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The First Impression
From a distance, it looked like a lump. A cluster. Something irregular and slightly textured.
It wasn’t smooth like plastic.
It wasn’t rough like bark.
It didn’t resemble any fruit or growth we recognized.
Its shape was uneven, almost organic—but not in a way that felt familiar.
But it didn’t quite match the surrounding bark.
Another guess: maybe it was something stuck there—something external.
That’s when curiosity took over.