I've been thinking about what Halloween actually is. Beneath all the costumes and carved pumpkins and theatrical scares. I think Halloween is about safely touching the edges of things that scare us. It's about walking into the unknown, down unfamiliar streets, up to houses we might not usually visit. But always knowing we can come back home. We can step out of the darkness, close the door behind us, and return to warmth and safety. And the people who love us. There's something reassuring in that, actually. We get to explore the slightly scary, the mysterious, and then we get to come home. Which is exactly what tonight's story is about. It's about a cat named Reggie who ventures out into the magical strangeness of Halloween night. He moves through a transformed neighborhood under a harvest moon. And then he comes home. He finds his corner, his blanket, his place of belonging. And speaking of Halloween, what's truly scary would be you listening to this episode from anywhere but a safe place. This episode has been carefully crafted. The pacing, the rhythm, the content. It's all designed to guide your mind and body into deep sleep. So you want to be in your comfortable bed. Somewhere you can safely drift off. And I just wanted to say that I love hearing from you. This work sometimes feels solitary, but your voices, your messages, your comments, they're what keep me going. So please never hesitate to reach out. There's a new dedicated email in the show notes that I just put in. Or you can always find me on social media. Or sometimes you can comment on your listening platform. So let's settle in.Get comfortable. Let your pillow support your head. Feel the warmth of your blankets around you.You're safe here. Find your most comfortable position. Take a moment to settle your body completely into your bed. As you settle, begin to notice your breathing. Let it slow down and get deeper. Breathing down into your belly rather than into your chest. This gentle deep breathing is what your body needs right now. Make it a nice, deep inhale and a long, slow exhale. In and out.And keep breathing this way. Deeply and slowly. And now I want you to bring your attention to the places in your body where we normally hold stress. And tension. Notice your forehead. The space between your eyebrows. And around your eyes. Feel those small muscles softening. And let your jaw release any tightness it's been carrying.Feel your entire face becoming smooth and peaceful. And then move your awareness down to your neck and shoulders. These are places where stress loves to settle.And let your shoulders drop away from your ears. Feel the weight of your head sinking into your pillow. Let that heaviness flow down through your arms. All the way to your hands. Continue this gentle release through your chest, your back, your hips, and legs. With each breath, your body grows a little heavier. A little more relaxed. And as you listen to Reggie's gentle Halloween journey, know that you too are exactly where you belong. In the darkness.In your bed. Preparing to drift into the deep breaths you deserve. Let's begin.Reggie was a magnificent creature. A plump ginger tom with fur the color of burnt autumn leaves. White socks perpetually smudged with the day's small adventures. And eyes the exact shade of golden whiskey. He lay stretched across the hallway runner. Where the afternoon light cooled warm and gold.Observing the world with the contentment of a creature who knew exactly where he belonged. Something was shifting today though. Something in the air itself.The young ones had come home from school with a strange buzzing energy that rippled through the quiet house. Like wind across still water. The boy burst through the door first.Backpack sliding off one shoulder. The girl followed. Her usually neat braids coming undone.Her hands clutching glitter covered decorations that left a trail of sparkle across the hardwood floor. Reggie watched from where he lay. His body relaxed.But his attention complete. He loved routine. Routine meant predictability.It meant food at the right times. Pets at the right moments. Quiet when he wanted quiet. This day carried something different in its texture. The prime human moved through the kitchen like a gentle current. And Reggie caught the scent of something spicy drifting from her hands.Pumpkin, cinnamon, and the faint trace of coffee. But she wasn't moving toward the cat food cabinet. She wasn't preparing his dinner.Instead fabric rustled softly. Scissors whispered as they cut. Glue appeared.The boy's costume took shape. Something shiny and blue with a round shield that caught the afternoon light like a mirror. The girl twirled.A witch's black dress pooling around her legs. A sparkling hat perched gently on her head. Their excitement filled the house like warmth from a hearth.Reggie slunk from room to room. Not with urgency, but with a cat's quiet curiosity. Under the dining room table, tail tucked close to his body, he watched.Across the living room, belly nearly brushing the cool floor. Past the kitchen, where the prime human moved between counters with deliberate grace, safety pins between her lips. Measuring and adjusting.His food bowl remained empty, but something deeper than hunger was stirring in him. A sense of occasion. Of the ordinary world shifting into something other. The grandfather clock in the hallway. An ancient thing of dark wood and brass pendulum ticked with steady patience. Outside, the light changed gradually. A crisp wind pressed gently against the windows. Leaves skittered across the front walk, creating a scratching sound that made Reggie's ears twitch with attention. When the door opened, autumn rushed in like an old friend returning. Dry leaves danced across the wooden floor in their annual Halloween ballet. Spinning slowly through the hallway, Reggie felt the call of that open door, like something ancient in his bones. Not urgent, but inevitable as moonrise. A gentle slip, and he was out. The neighborhood had transformed into something luminous and strange. Halloween night was not like the other nights.The air held a particular magic. Crisp and cool, like the moment before a change. Sounds traveled differently, as if wrapped in velvet. A dog's bark from three streets over rang clear, but distant. Dreamlike. Laughter floated on the wind in fragments.Music drifted between houses. Sometimes a snippet of something spooky. Sometimes a child's delighted shriek. Costumed children moved through the street. A robot. A princess. Something that might have been a dinosaur. Reggie wove through the legs of trick-or-treaters. A furry shadow moving through the tableau.Sneakers and boots. And tiny witch shoes created a forest of movement around him. But he moved with the grace of something untouchable. The harvest moon hung low and enormous above the street. The color of warm butter. So close, it seemed almost within reach. Streetlights created soft pools of golden light, with shadows dancing gently between them. Pumpkins glowed from nearly every porch. Their carved faces flickering with candlelight. Beneath the old wooden porch of the neighbor's house lay a universe most would never see. Reggie ducked under, his belly brushing against cool earth. Cobwebs tickling his whiskers. Dust motes danced in the narrow shafts of remaining light. A spider scuttled away. He rested there for a moment, breathing in the cool darkness, and then emerged and padded slowly toward the edge of the yard. The rhubarb bushes created a massive green sanctuary. A world of green darkness and secret sounds. He nosed through the large leaves slowly.Dust and earth clung to his whiskers. A mouse moved somewhere in the undergrowth. The small vital movements of a world that existed just beneath notice. A sudden mechanical cackle from a lawn decoration made his body tense for just a moment, and then release. With the dignity only a cat possesses, he settled deeper into the rhubarb's green embrace. His heart quieted.The leaves surrounded him, massive and soothing, creating a perfect place where he could simply be. As the night deepened, trick-or-treaters began to thin. Moving homeward one by one, porch lights began to click off. First the bright orange Halloween lights, then the standard porch lights. Shadows lengthened across lawns, becoming softer. The moon climbed higher, and the world beneath it shifted into shades of silver and blue. The calling of home began to whisper in Reggie's ear. It was time. A scratch at the door. A soft meow, and the door opened to let him inside. Warmth wrapped around him like a familiar blanket. The boy's superhero costume lay in a soft puddle on the floor. The shield catching a stray moonbeam. The girl's witch costume was draped carefully over a chair. Her hat resting like a sleeping bat beside it.The air itself felt settled and peaceful. The chaos of the evening already becoming memory. His stomach growled. He padded into the kitchen, and his whiskers twitched with satisfaction at the sight of his food bowl, finally filled. He ate with measured bites, each piece a small comfort. The house hummed around him.The refrigerator's soft, continuous song. The grandfather clock's patient ticking. The distant creak of the structure settling as it cooled toward night. He jumped onto the kitchen counter, a move strictly forbidden during daytime. But now, with the household sleeping, this space was his. His kingdom. His rules. From here, the window revealed a street transformed. No more costumed children, just quiet.Streetlights cast soft pools of amber light. A single jack-o'-lantern still glowed on the neighbor's porch, burning softly down. No dogs wandered the empty street.No cars moved through the stillness. He moved silently down the hallway. The boy's bedroom door stood ajar, moonlight spilling across the floor.He let curled on his side. His lips slightly parted in the peace of deep sleep. His superhero shield rested against the wall. His breathing was deep and even. The sleep of a child, completely, wonderfully exhausted. The girl's room smelt of lavender and something sweet. Her witch hat hung on the bedpost, sparkling softly in the moonlight like something caught between a dream and waking. She had kicked off her blankets and then pulled them back up in her sleep. Her wild curls spread across the pillow like a dark, peaceful cloud. The prime human's room was dark and quiet. The door mostly closed. Inside, Reggie knew she slept the sleep of someone who had spent the day creating small magic for those she loved.The house felt complete. Everyone was exactly where they belonged. Reggie padded to the living room corner, the place he had appropriated long ago as his own. The coziest, most comfortable place in the entire house. The overstuffed chair with its soft green blanket called to him. He circled slowly, once, twice, three times, and he settled, curling up tight, his little nose buried deep in the soft fur of his side, his body, a perfect spiral of contentment.Moonlight spilled across the wooden floor. Shadows softened into  gradations of gray and blue. A purr rumbled deep in his chest – not the loud, demanding purr of daytime hours, but a soft, almost inaudible sound. His heartbeat slowed, becoming measured and deep. Each breath became deeper, more languid. The tip of his tail twitched occasionally – perhaps chasing dream-mice, or simply remembering the night's gentle adventures. Leaves and pumpkins. The taste of night air. The warmth of a neighborhood transformed. The house breathed with him – the refrigerator's soft hum, the grandfather clock's measured, patient tick, the distant creak of the structure settling into the profound rest of deep night. Wind whispered against windows, carrying the last, fading hints of Halloween magic, lulling everything toward silence. In his dreams, Reggie became the adventurer he'd been all night – a hunter, an explorer, a hero moving through moonlit streets that were entirely his own. Chasing leaves. Investigating pumpkins with their warm, glowing faces. Warm hands stroking his fur. The soft sounds of a family breathing together in the dark. His purr quieted further. Slowed. Became so soft it was almost imperceptible – barely a rumble. Then even that faded away. The house settled deeper into its nighttime rest. The moon climbed higher, casting its gentle light across sleeping faces, across a ginger cat curled in his corner, across a neighborhood where all the small magics of October had finally come home. Everything was at peace. And sleep, deep and complete, claimed them all. Like Reggie curling into his corner, you've found your way to the perfect place for rest. Your body knows this place – this bed, these pillows, this darkness. Notice how your shoulders have released their tension. Your jaw has softened. There's a pleasant heaviness in your limbs, like gravity itself is becoming your friend, drawing you deeper into comfort with each breath. The world outside can wait. The tasks undone, the worries held, the small frustrations of the day – they all have their proper place, and it's not here in this dark with you. Your mind is finally allowing itself to let go of what it's been holding. Your breathing simply moves in and out, carrying you closer to sleep. You are exactly where you belong – in your own bed, in your own darkness, with nothing required of you but to surrender to what comes naturally. Let yourself drift now, the way autumn leaves drift on evening air, the way night settles over a quiet street. There's no urgency, no struggle. Your body is already beginning its work of repair and renewal. Your mind is already loosening its grip on the day. Sleep is already moving toward you, drawn by the perfect conditions you've created simply by being here, being still, being willing to let go. I’m Suzanne. This is your ticket to snoozeville. Sleep now. Sleep deeply. Sleep well.