Sleep story · travel, cozy
The night train (a sleep story), on a low-energy afternoon — for winding down
Somewhere between two cities, in the dark, where nobody needs anything from you.
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
A station passes without stopping — a platform, a lamp, three empty benches, then dark again. The lights along the aisle are dimmed to the colour of weak tea. Every so often the wheels change their note as they cross a join in the rail.
Outside, the fields go past without anything in them you need to see. There is one other person in this carriage, four rows up, asleep with a coat over their knees. The window is cool against the side of your face.
Feel one shoulder go heavy, then the other. Let your thighs be as heavy as they want to be.
Notice how much of you has already stopped moving. Let everything you were holding today stay on the floor beside the bed.
Your bag is wedged under the seat in front, out of the way of your feet. The seat reclines one notch further than you expected it to.
Feel your belly rise and fall without any help from you. Your elbows can stop being hinges for now.
Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal. If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
Your fingers can stop doing anything at all. Feel the top of your head relax into the pillow.
Let your breathing do the rest. Let the dark be ordinary.
Almost nothing to do now. Just the breath. Let the sound of this go soft at the edges.
Low-energy afternoons are what this was written for.
Let the words go now, and take the quiet with you.
12 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for travel, cozy.
If this story does not settle you, try Sleep story: a hotel room somewhere, if you are fitting this around other people — for waking too early, A boat at anchor, when you have tried everything else — for jet lag or A field under snow, when you cannot concentrate on anything else — for a night when you do not want to think.