There is an old forest near my hometown where people say you can hear machinery under the earth.
I thought it was just local legend.
One autumn evening, I went there with two friends. We walked deep into the woods, far from roads and houses. Around sunset, we heard it.
A low humming sound.
Not wind. Not insects. Not traffic.
It sounded mechanical, like something huge running far beneath us.
The ground vibrated slightly under my shoes.
One of my friends joked that maybe the hollow Earth people were clocking in for work. Nobody laughed.
We followed the sound until we reached a clearing where the trees grew in a perfect circle. In the center, the ground was warm.
Warm enough that steam rose when one of my friends poured water on it.
We left immediately.
I do not know what is under that forest.
But something is.