I was strolling along the beach when I unexpectedly came across this.

It turned out not to be a body at all, but rather an old industrial or submarine cable worn down by saltwater, sunlight, and time. Its outer casing had split open and peeled away, revealing layers of fabric, mesh, and insulation that eerily resembled muscle and tissue at first glance. What initially sparked alarm and morbid curiosity ultimately revealed something far more ordinary—yet still unsettling in its own way.

Because beneath the illusion lies a different reality: the amount of discarded technology now accumulating in our oceans and washing ashore in unfamiliar forms. That cable had likely traveled for years beneath the waves, hidden from view, before returning to land transformed into something unrecognizable. Next time I’m walking along the shoreline, I’ll be looking more carefully—not just for strange objects, but for what they might really be and where they came from.