“I slowly approached, half expecting it to jump in my face.” Up close, it looked unreal: a bright yellow shell with black spots and six spiny protuberances, clinging to the motionless wall. I was paralyzed between fear and curiosity, quickly snapping a photo and sharing it with friends, who reacted with panicked hypotheses and nightmarish theories.
Afterward, with my heart still pounding, I searched online and sorted through the images, finding similar results as the fear slowly faded, replaced by curiosity.
I finally found it: “G
Seeing it online, I realized: “Not an alien, not a poisonous menace…” but a harmless and bizarre architect of nature. My fear melted away and turned to amazement at how something so unusual could exist unnoticed in my own space.
