Sleep story · travel, cozy
The night train (a sleep story), when you need to stop thinking about work — for an overtired night
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
The window is cool against the side of your face. The lights along the aisle are dimmed to the colour of weak tea. The train left a quarter of an hour ago, and the carriage has already settled into its own quiet.
Every so often the wheels change their note as they cross a join in the rail. Your bag is wedged under the seat in front, out of the way of your feet. Somewhere ahead of you, a door opens and closes with a soft, deliberate sound.
Feel your heels sink a little into the mattress. Let your palms open if they were closed.
Your eyelids can be too heavy to open, and that is fine. Let your thighs be as heavy as they want to be.
Outside, the fields go past without anything in them you need to see. A station passes without stopping — a platform, a lamp, three empty benches, then dark again.
Let your forehead go cool and smooth. Let your calves spread out and flatten.
Let everything you were holding today stay on the floor beside the bed. Let your feet get heavy first. Heavier than they need to be.
There is one other person in this carriage, four rows up, asleep with a coat over their knees. The seat reclines one notch further than you expected it to.
If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point. If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
Feel your wrists loosen. Let your ribs stop working so hard.
They will find their own way out. Let each breath be a little smaller than the last.
You can stop listening properly. Sleep. You do not have to count them.
Work thoughts are allowed to be there. They just do not get to drive.
The end. Sleep well.
14 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, when you are short on time — for jet lag, Sleep story: a boat at anchor, when you need to stop thinking about work — for a restless night or A fire dying down, on a day that started badly — for a restless night.