Sleep story · travel, cozy
The night train, when you are short on time — 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 lights along the aisle are dimmed to the colour of weak tea. 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 rhythm underneath you is steady enough to lean on. The window is cool against the side of your face. Somewhere ahead of you, a door opens and closes with a soft, deliberate sound.
Let your breathing get slower without deciding to slow it. Let your forehead go cool and smooth.
Notice how much of you has already stopped moving. Let your feet get heavy first. Heavier than they need to be.
The seat reclines one notch further than you expected it to. There is one other person in this carriage, four rows up, asleep with a coat over their knees.
Let your hands be completely still. Let everything you were holding today stay on the floor beside the bed.
Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times. You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
Your elbows can stop being hinges for now. Let the mattress take all of it.
Let your attention settle somewhere low, like your feet. Let the next part go past without you.
Slower. Let the room get slightly further away. Leave it there.
Pick this one when you are short on time.
No more sentences. Just the weight of you in the bed.
12 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for travel, cozy.