Sleep story · quiet, home
The house after everyone is asleep (a sleep story), when you are on your own — for a restless night
The hour when the house belongs to nobody and nothing needs doing.
Lights off. Press begin and let the story read itself to you, at the pace of sleep.
Screen on or off — we suggest dimming it, or simply closing your eyes after the first paragraph.
The story, in full
There is nothing left on the list for today. A glass of water sits on the table, half finished. The radiator clicks once as it cools down.
The fridge hums on and off in the kitchen, and that is the loudest thing in the building. The floorboards have stopped creaking because nobody is walking on them. The clock in the hallway ticks slightly behind the one in the kitchen.
Your elbows can stop being hinges for now. Feel your belly rise and fall without any help from you.
Notice how much of you has already stopped moving. Let everything you were holding today stay on the floor beside the bed.
The curtains are not quite closed, and there is a thin line of streetlight along the wall. The lamp beside you is the only light left on in the whole house.
Notice the places where your body touches the bed, and let them be heavy. Your ankles can go loose now.
Feel your wrists loosen. Let your thighs be as heavy as they want to be.
Everything in the room is exactly where it was left. There is a chair by the window that nobody sits in during the day.
Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again. If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
Feel the weight of your head on the pillow. Notice your hips, wide and settled.
They will find their own way out. Just the dark.
Let them. Let it all get further away. Let your attention settle somewhere low, like your feet.
Being on your own is not required, but it does make this simpler.
Let the words go now, and take the quiet with you.
14 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for quiet, home.
If this story does not settle you, try Sleep story: a fire dying down, when you feel restless rather than tired — for a restless night, Sleep story: a field under snow, when you want to finish something — for the hours after a late shift or A bus at night (a sleep story), when you need to stop thinking about work — for the hours after a late shift.