Per Aspera Ad Astra

There are no unreachable goals
There are no undoable folds
There are no unbreakable trends
Or unnatural bends
Yeah

Michael was a strange child, not only he was a sleepwalker but during his lunacy he did strange things with his body. His parents were always worried for him. Sometimes they'd wake up in the middle of the night to find him stretching his body again, having that completely blank stare in his eyes...

Of course they perfectly knew that under no circumstances you should wake up a lunatic because that might lead to a heart failure, so all they could do is cry and watch their kid stretch his back and limbs to the most unnatural angles. His parents weren't religious but even they sometimes said it between themselves that it looked like the boy was possessed by the devil.

Michael's parents never saw his incredible flexibility as a talent but rather as the result of a terrible mental illness. They never spoke about it and tried to hide it as much as possible. It wasn't hard because Michael never stretched in the awaken state and seemingly he wasn't even aware of what his own body was capable of at night, he only complained often that his body was tired and his muscles burnt even though he wasn't doing anything.

He'd often wake up in the morning and whine that his back hurts and his legs feel weird. His mother would rub some pain relieving gel into his back and over his thighs, trying to not think too much of what she saw him actually doing to his back and legs last night.

When Michael was 14 the seizures became so bad and he was doing such extreme things to himself, seemingly trying to curl his body into the tightest spiral, not only his body bent backwards and his head went all the way between his thighs, but it seems his inner devil was pulling him further and further as if its goal was to make the back of his head reach his own belly one day...

He started skipping school a lot because he'd always be too tired in the morning. Sometimes he couldn't stand up and had to sleep for a few more hours before regaining the power. By the evening he would be more or less fine, to the joy of his inner demon that couldn't wait for the night to stretch him with a renewed force.

All of this was a dark secret in the family, but when his parents finally decided to bring their son's illness to the light and take him to a doctor, the boy was immediately hospitalized and his parents almost lost their parental rights because of not reporting the disease earlier, as they confessed that it was going on for many years and first began when he was maybe 5 or 6...

Michael was taken to the Backfolde-Sanitarium, a hospital for mentally challenged children that specialized in similar disorders. He was diagnosed with an advanced form of kontortiosis, a disease that required constant medical attention, which meant he could no longer live at home...

At first Michael was totally shocked to stay in that hospital because no matter where he looked he'd see kids doing weird things. He couldn't understand what they were doing! The hospital was literally full of young patients, and you could fold any of them several times and put in your pocket. But as he made friends with other boys, he was even more shocked to find out that his own body was also capable of such things... It was like suddenly realizing you had a superpower!

The hospital replaced his home and school. The lessons became very simple and no longer gave him a headache. Most children would sit as they wanted during the lessons and during the day overall. Sitting in the split would be the most simple and common case, while some kids would sit on their own heads or in a chair with their bodies twisted 180 degrees around or having their feet behind their own backs... They were allowed to do whatever kept them calm and at peace and caused no harm to others.

Michael's parents visited every day, and the rest of the day he played with his new friends. The life became surprisingly careless and comfortable. Comfortable in the oddest way, should we say.

Every evening all the doctors and their patients would gather in one big room, some beautiful music would play and one or two of the long-time patients would demonstrate some of the things they could do to the music...