The Waypoint

ABOUT

Known to most as The Waypoint, the cafe appears to customers at the apex of their lives, when they most need the time to think on what lies ahead and make a decision that will affect everything that comes after. It is a little coffee shop, tea shop, bakery - whatever the customer is most comfortable with.
Maybe you’ve seen it at the corner of the streets B & F - Bleak & Faint, for those with a rather morbid sense of humour. Maybe you’ve woken up after a bad night with the smell of roasted coffee beans still lingering in your nose, or the taste of warm banana bread on the back of your tongue.
Or maybe you’re one of those who does not believe in the Ajahta, the thinning of the mists between worlds and planes nothing more than a myth to you. A trick of the eye, an overactive imagination - an outlandish story you’ve long outgrown.
But everybody has a story. Either their own, or of someone they know, or of someone who knows someone. Six degrees of separation, and there you have a story of The Waypoint. A moment in time where someone struggles with the turn of their life and the decisions they face, and find themselves at a juncture with no room to breathe.
And they’re given a respite, in some way or form.

The Waypoint is a place away from all else, a slice of an outside where one is brought from countless different circumstances to face the possibilities before them. Sometimes - most times - they have a choice in which fork in the road they may take.

No matter what time of day or night you appear in The Waypoint, it is never empty. The being is a constant, one whose name has been lost to time but who is now known as Anam. Other customers appear and disappear, sometimes alone and sometimes not. And once the decision they need to make is made, once their path is chosen, they disappear.
The Waypoint only appears to those who need it, and no matter what you wind up choosing, once you have done so, it slips back into the mist from which you’ve spotted it. It goes back to being a story - a dream, a faint memory of sanctuary as you look for your peace.
Believe in The Waypoint, or don’t. It will be there if you ever need it.

Location

The Waypoint seems to be untethered to the mortal planes it may appear on. Different windows show different places, and every customer that passes through the store may see a different world outside.

Menu

The menu never shows the same things, tailored specifically to each person’s needs. Perhaps you need A Quiet Second, or Answers To Unvoiced Questions. Perhaps you need Time To Think, or A Place To Cry. Each item is crafted with care and understanding, an empathy the being behind the counter - once mortal and now something else - never falters with.

Testimonials

“The best cuppa I ever had. By the time I was taking my last sip, I knew what to tell the board of my company.” - S.V.
“I woke up the day after, and I knew it would be a long recovery, but I would recover. You know?” - R.G.
“I wish I could go back already! But I know it’ll be a while before I will.” - K.M.
“The barista - I didn’t catch their name? But they told me something that’s stuck with me. Something that seemed to warm my inside like my favourite cup of chai. That being broken doesn’t mean we stay that way, and what we’re reforged into is still beautiful, and still strong.” - D P.

Find out more about The Waypoint in the story At The Waypoint.