Sleep story · travel, cozy
The night train, before something difficult — for a restless 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 rhythm underneath you is steady enough to lean on. Your bag is wedged under the seat in front, out of the way of your feet. Every so often the wheels change their note as they cross a join in the rail.
The window is cool against the side of your face. A station passes without stopping — a platform, a lamp, three empty benches, then dark again. Somewhere ahead of you, a door opens and closes with a soft, deliberate sound.
Feel the back of your knees soften into the bed. Let the space between your eyebrows smooth out.
Let your thumbs rest where they landed. Let your shoulder blades spread out and drop.
The heating is on low, and the air smells faintly of clean metal and old upholstery. There is one other person in this carriage, four rows up, asleep with a coat over their knees.
Your eyelids can be too heavy to open, and that is fine. Let your tongue sit heavy in your mouth.
Feel your belly rise and fall without any help from you. Your fingers can stop doing anything at all.
The seat reclines one notch further than you expected it to. Outside, the fields go past without anything in them you need to see.
If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment. Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
Feel your wrists loosen. Let the pillow take the whole weight of your head.
Let them. Follow the breath out, and let the next one arrive by itself.
Let your breathing do the rest. Let the sound of this go soft at the edges. Just the weight.
It works best in the hour before something difficult.
Let the words go now, and take the quiet with you.
14 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for travel, cozy.
If this story does not settle you, try Sleep story: a lake before dawn, when you have already had a long week — for a racing mind, Sleep story: a lighthouse at the end of a long day, when you want to be left alone — for jet lag or Sleep story: the house after everyone is asleep, if you are doing this in the middle of the day — for a restless night.