Sleep story · travel, cozy
The night train — a slow story for the end of the day, when you have tried everything else — for a racing mind
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
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. A station passes without stopping — a platform, a lamp, three empty benches, then dark again.
Outside, the fields go past without anything in them you need to see. Every so often the wheels change their note as they cross a join in the rail. The rhythm underneath you is steady enough to lean on.
Let the mattress take all of it. Your eyelids can be too heavy to open, and that is fine.
Let your palms open if they were closed. Let your calves spread out and flatten.
Your bag is wedged under the seat in front, out of the way of your feet. The lights along the aisle are dimmed to the colour of weak tea.
Let your forehead go cool and smooth. Let your breathing get slower without deciding to slow it.
Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice. If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
Feel the back of your knees soften into the bed. Your chest can be still now.
Stay with the weight of your body. Let each breath be a little smaller than the last.
Sleep. Let it all get further away. Nothing needs deciding tonight.
This assumes you have already tried the obvious things.
There is nothing more to follow. Let the rest happen on its own.
12 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for travel, cozy.
If this story does not settle you, try Sleep story: a garden in the rain, when you cannot concentrate on anything else — for a restless night, A lake before dawn, when you are on your own — for a restless night or A hotel room somewhere (a sleep story), when the day has been loud — for jet lag.