Insomnia Café: A Prologue

Insomnia is a glamorous term for thoughts you forgot to have in the day.

-Alain de Botton.

On the street corner of a certain city, there was a café called “Insomnia Café”. It was a great antiquity coffee shop in the city. It was inhabited by constant customers. Ms. Coffee, the owner of the shop, has maintained the property for quite some time. Rumor has it, the opening of the coffee shop goes back to 5/6 centuries back. Although Ms. Coffee is not the first manager of the place, the name has been coming down from generation to generation. It was almost a title to be held the moment anyone assumed the position. Her fellow co-workers such as Mr. Tea were not unpopular either. 

The café has quite a schedule every single day. Unlike many other shops, it doesn’t consent to any rules. Amongst the constant customers, Ms. Anxiety, Mr. Stress, Mrs. Creativity (the oldest member of the group), Mr. Exhaustion and Ms. Imagination (Hallucination, as some would like to call her) are the constant dwellers. There were rather some occasional guests like Ms. Over-thinker, who comes during the quiet hours to avoid the constant meetings. If Ms. Over-thinker is to be present, that means she wants to be distracted by constant conversations. No one wonders where she goes if she were absent. But they always enjoyed her company when she was around. This was especially true for Ms. Anxiety and Mr. Stress.

During the morning time, Mrs. Creativity and Mr. Exhaustion are the first attendants. Ms. Coffee starts to serve her best beverages with them. Lady Creativity comes up with a fresh outlook on the day along with the cold air of the morning. Mr. Exhaustion, almost always, tries to steal her energy to wipe off his ludicrous face before he goes to his office. Ms. Coffee sits beside Creativity to get inspired for the day. She usually ends up painting or quoting her idea on the wall. She was the very reason why she loved her job. 

Ms. Coffee was not always happy about her shop. Stress and Anxiety were her living shreds of evidence for that very reason. If it was up to her, she sometimes wonder to change the shop into a restaurant or something else. Mr. Insomnia, her great great grandfather, was not a very healthy man per se. Some would like to refer to him as Inso-maniac. Ms. Coffee had obtained his notes from his room very recently. She figured that her former families did not find or cared for the content. But, he pointed out that coffee was his enemy and savior multiple times. As many would do, her family chose the positive one rather than the negative one. No one even knew his problem. His despair was discarded more than his joyful moments. Ever since then, she sometimes feels guilty as if she was selling poison to the crowd. But, Creativity was her very reason to look forward to the next day. 

Mr. Exhaustion was the very reason she wanted to quit the job. She never had enough amount of drink to take away his exhaustion. Morning time was the worst. He is always cranky, but usually quiet as if he was mad at everyone. She keeps her distance to give him all the space he wanted. He always comes around a few hours later. 

Lady Creativity, the most respected member of the group, was always the source of the topics for the discussion. Even occasional guests leave the shop with such admiration and respect every time they visited. No one knew that she was married to Mr. Depression 20 years ago except Ms. Coffee. That was one of the reasons to leave her home at her earlier convenience. She never resented marrying him, though. It brought the very best side of her for so long. Besides, except on the worst days, her husband is the greatest fan and critic she has. Mr. Depression was also a customer at the café, although no one recognized him as that. He came early or very late before anyone arrives to grab his coffee. His rush and negative aura made it impossible for anyone to give him a second look let alone recognize who he was.  

On his good days, he enjoyed the company of his wife and Ms. Coffee too. This was also one of the resolving points regarding the dilemma of Ms. Coffee. She was always satisfied by his appearance. Part of her must be relieved for Lady Creativity, too.

The café was not that large when it comes to its size. But it could accommodate around 50 or more people on average. The arrangements of the chairs were to suit any kind of customer. The sofas were usually used by the permanent members. The long tables attached to the glass walls were used by the solitude lovers. The hard chairs were usually used by those who choose to be dispassionate about coffee or any extra activities for that matter. They visit the shop out of the mere necessity of the day, they just don’t want to accept that it was being a need to go through their days. They are usually with books or magazines to occupy their hands which is to mean they are the busiest member of their surrounding. That was why, unlike the solitude lovers, whenever discussions and arguments filled the air, the dispassionate members hurried to leave. It was like their cue to leave the place. 

But, one day, an exception to this group was found. His name was Mr. Cynic. As much as he was trying to avoid the constant gatherings, he couldn’t help himself not to say anything regarding the issue on the table. It was hard to say he fitted in that group. But he was always oblivious to what was happening in his surrounding. But, that day marked the additional member of the group. Lady Creativity enjoyed his company most. Ms. Anxiety and Mr. Stress did not like him by a bit. Ms. Coffee was glad when she saw him socializing. Ms. Anxiety wanted to defend herself so much she almost spilled her coffee at his face. Ms. Over-thinker was trying to figure out her true reactions toward him. Everyone was intrigued by his countenance for he could not care about any of the reactions he was getting.