Sleep story · travel, cozy
The night train, when you are short on time — for waking too early
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
Somewhere ahead of you, a door opens and closes with a soft, deliberate sound. 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 train left a quarter of an hour ago, and the carriage has already settled into its own quiet. Your bag is wedged under the seat in front, out of the way of your feet. There is one other person in this carriage, four rows up, asleep with a coat over their knees.
Let your toes stop holding on to anything. Notice the places where your body touches the bed, and let them be heavy.
Feel the back of your knees soften into the bed. Let your breathing get slower without deciding to slow it.
A station passes without stopping — a platform, a lamp, three empty benches, then dark again. The window is cool against the side of your face.
Now feel your whole body at once, lying here, being held up. Let the back of your neck lengthen out.
Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times. If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
Let your lower back sink down into the mattress. Let your forearms get heavy and warm.
Let the room get slightly further away. Let the sound of this go soft at the edges.
Sleep. Let your attention settle somewhere low, like your feet. Let it all get further away.
Pick this one when you are short on time.
That is the end of the story. Sleep is the next part, and it does not need instructions.
12 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for travel, cozy.
If this story does not settle you, try A fire dying down, before you go back to something hard — for a night when you do not want to think, Sleep story: a kitchen late at night, if you are doing this instead of scrolling — for winding down or A lighthouse at the end of a long day (a sleep story), when you are on your own — for winding down.