Every town has their own version of 'The Boogeyman'. A monster, cryptid, phantom, whatever you want to call it. It's all essentially the same thing- just a scary story they tell kids to get them to behave. An urban legend is just a life lesson disguised as a horror story, after all. For us folk living up in the tiny and once prosperous gold-mining town of Trillium, ours was called The Locust Man.

  Now, let me start by saying that I fully realize how ridiculous that name probably sounds to you. The Locust Man? Pfttt. What's he going to do besides get stuck in the grill of someone's pickup truck? Destroy some crops? Oooh, he sounds real scary... yeah, I know. Stupid, right? That's what I thought, too. Yet, here I sit nearly twenty years later, still trying to reconcile with what happened. A grown-ass woman who's wiser, stronger and even more grounded in reality than my adolescent self, and still... I find myself hesitating to even write that name down.

  I suppose, as with all stories, we should go back to where it all started. I remember, as a young child I had always thought it was rather strange our town was called Trillium, considering I had never come across even a single one growing there. If you don't know, a trillium is a small white flower with three petals and a bright yellow center. They sort of look like if you took a lily and tore off every other petal playing 'he loves me, he loves me not'. In elementary school, around 2nd grade or so, we were taught all about this elusive flower I had never even seen in real life, and how very proud our town was to be named in its honor.

  Trillium, Colorado was established in 1922. A new town born in the wake of a tragedy that had struck the previous town, which had once sat in the same location. A 'rebranding' tactic, I suppose one could say. For us, and those that came before us, the trillium blossom was supposed to be a symbol of hope and rebirth. Knowing all that I know now, that sentiment feels morbidly absurd.

  Growing up in a small and mostly isolated town like Trillium, there really wasn't much for a kid to do. You'd have to drive almost an hour to get to the closest mall or movie theater, so those trips were reserved only for special occasions. The high school kids would all go hang out at the roller rink downtown, or in the parking lot of the old run-down diner called Slim's that sat across it. My friends and I weren't allowed to go downtown without a chaperone yet, and by that age, going with parental supervision was both inconvenient and embarrassing, to say the least.

  My neighborhood consisted of a row of modest homes situated on a long dead-end road called Rain Street. There was a patch of woods at the end of our road that separated the abandoned mining system from the main part of town. The old trail that the minors used was still easily accessible, for the most part, so we spent a lot of time in those woods after school and on the weekends.

  We had a 'secret spot' which, what we thought at the time, was about halfway through the woods and ten steps away from a small creek that ran the length of the area. 'Rain Creek', we used to call it. There was a small circular clearing there and we had created our own little clubhouse in the center of it, using old milk crates for supports, half-broken wooden pallets as walls, and a few old lawn chairs one of the neighbors had thrown out. I made my contribution by bringing an old tarp we had lying around in our basement, which found new life by serving as the roof of our arboraceous establishment.

  Our parents weren't exactly thrilled with the idea of us running around in the woods by ourselves, but as long as we stayed within earshot and made it back before the streetlights came on, they probably figured it was still safer than letting us run around with all the hooligans downtown unsupervised. They picked their battles, I guess, choosing what they thought to be the lesser of two evils.

  It was me, Lacey, Devin, Mikey and Michelle. We were all best friends- pretty much inseparable, except the boys weren't invited to the girls' sleepovers, and vice versa. Everyday after school we'd all get dropped off by the bus at the very beginning of our street, and it became a running joke between the Rain Street Gang (as we liked to call ourselves) to all run and try to get off of the bus as quickly as possible. Me, Lacey and Devin would all yell out, 'Last two home are some rotten eggs!', while Mikey and Michelle tried to push past us to get a head start.

  The aforementioned two were siblings and lived in the very last house on our street, so they'd always get home last, regardless of their efforts. Although, as I recall, the year that Mikey got a pair of Heelys for Christmas, he finally got his edge over the rest of us, leaving Michelle to be the lone rotten egg. That is, until the following summer, when one of his wheels broke off. The whole point of it all was just to get home and get our chores and homework done with enough daylight left to make our trek into the woods and back, together as a group.

  The 'RSG' had made a pact never to visit the clubhouse without all five members present, though us girls had our suspicions that the boys thought themselves exempt from that rule. They were the ones who discovered the clearing in the first place after all, and not to mention, did most of the physical labor of hauling our provisions out there. Lacey and I had only learned of the spot a day after the boys had found it. Michelle had barged in on Mikey and Devin while they were talking about it, and immediately relayed that message to us.

  Michelle wasn't necessarily more loyal to the girls, she was just the youngest in the group and couldn't resist blurting out any mildly relevant information she thought she might have in a desperate attempt to be included. To say she was nosy would be an understatement. But, in that regard, if the boys had ever gone out there without us, they would have had to be extremely sneaky about it, as it was a well known fact that Michelle's number one objective in life was to gather any piece of intel she could.

  It was a seemingly normal Saturday morning when Lacey and I learned that all of our speculation about the boys may have been warranted.

  I had slept over at Lacey's the night before, and we were in her room sitting on her bed, discussing our possible plans for the day as she filed her nails. Out of nowhere, Michelle flung open the door and charged in. The mere expression on her face immediately told us she had just gotten ahold of some real juicy information, before the words could even begin spilling out of her mouth.

  "Oh my God... you guys!! Guess wh-wh-what!!"

  Lacey gestured the nail file toward Michelle in a circular motion, raising her eyebrows bluntly as Michelle struggled to catch her breath from running all the way there.

  "So... last night, Devin came to sleep over, and... wh-wh-while they were in Mikey's room, I pretended I was going to the bathroom so I could spy on them! See, I was s'pposed to be asleep, but I-"

  "Ugh, come on Michelle, get to it! What'd you hear?" Lacey snapped.

  "Okay, okay... jeez! I am getting to it! Ugh! So, anyways... I heard the boys talking, annnnd..."

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  She paused excitedly for a moment, as if she were expecting a drum roll to precede her announcement.

  "They're gonna go try and find the abandoned mine today!!!"

  "Alright, Michelle! Good spying!" I chuckled, trying to encourage her after Lacey's impatience.

  Lacey looked over at me and rolled her eyes, then abruptly stood up off the bed. She took the scrunchie from her wrist, tied her long blonde hair up into a messy bun and said,

  "Let's go."

  "Lacey..." I protested.

  "What?"

  She responded as if she hadn't registered the 'you can't be serious' tone in my voice at all. I opened my mouth, but before I could begin explaining all the practical and logical reasons why even if the boys were stupid enough to go play around somewhere dangerous, we shouldn't be, Michelle exclaimed,

  "That is where The Locust Man lives!"

  I immediately closed my mouth in defeat, knowing Lacey would take this nonsense as a challenge, and that no amount of my reasonings would have any effect on her decision. She dismissed Michelle's comment while attempting to shove her foot into one of her new pink sneakers that she refused to admit were too small for her.

  "Pshh, don't be such a baby, Michelle. He's not real, you do know that right?"

  Michelle crinkled her face and yelled back,

  "Yes, he is Lacey! He is!! And that is wh-wh-where he lives, and he eats kids that go there!"

  "Oh, yeah? You still believe in Santa Claus too? What about the tooth fairy?" Lacey laughed.

  Michelle looked down at her shoes, and even though she could admittedly be annoying, I found myself feeling bad for her.

  "Come on Lace, she's just scared."

  She once again rolled her eyes, then said,

  "Get dressed."

  We walked in silence towards the end of the road, though all three of our reasons for it differed drastically. Lacey's was determination and resolve, mine was contemptuousness and defeat, and Michelle's was just fear. I found myself halfway hoping the boys had left already, but as we approached the driveway, we caught them just as they were about to step off the porch.

  "Hey!!" Lacey yelled in her trademark cheerleader cadence, adding one hand on her hip for flair. "Where exactly do you boys think you're going without us?"

  Mikey let out an annoyed groan, while Devin stepped forward and said,

  "Well actually, we were just heading out to go and find you girls."

  "Liar!!" Lacey snapped, quickly wiping the shit-eating grin off of Devin's face. "Michelle already blabbed. We know exactly where you two are going, and we're coming too."

  Devin looked at Mikey for approval, who, after a moment of consideration, replied,

  "Okay, fine. Whatever. But no crybaby snitches allowed."

  Michelle then proceeded to prove both of his accusations correct at once by whining back,

  "I am not a crybaby! I'm telling mom if you don't let me come with you guys!"

  At that point, I spoke up.

  "Alright, listen." I said sternly. Then once I had their full attention, I lowered my voice a bit and continued, "Just for the record, I think trying to go find that grody old mine is a dumb idea and a colossal waste of time. But, if one of us goes, then we all go. That's the deal."

  Lacey folded her arms in solidarity beside me, and with that, we all had an unspoken understanding. With the boys out ahead leading the way, we headed towards the uncertainty that waited just beyond the tree line.

  The moment we entered the woods, I felt an overwhelming sense of dread wash over me. But, to be fair, as a preteen emo kid who'd already reached an adult level of cynicism, I felt a certain amount of dread towards almost everything in life. So, take my premonition with a grain of salt, but for some reason, and even though I hung out there almost every single day, this day felt... different.

  I remember the woods being abnormally quiet. It took some time for me to even notice, but once I did, I interrupted the mindless chatter going on around me to ask,

  "Where are all the freakin' birds?"

  They all looked at me as if I'd completely lost my mind.

  "Uh... what in the hell are you talking about?" Devin asked.

  I pointed up towards the treetops.

  "Listen..."

  They all looked up, then back at me again in confusion.

  "There's always birds chirping back and forth in these woods. We've been walking for a good few minutes now, and I haven't heard a single one. Have any of you guys?"

  "Damn... yeah... that is weird." Mikey agreed.

  "They probably all just migrated!" Devin goofily offered.

  "Um, Devin... it's Spring, you moron! Birds only migrate for the Winter. If anything, there should be even more birds around than normal. " Lacey argued back.

  Devin flipped her off, which was the best rebuttal he could usually come up with, then turned to me and asked,

  "Okay, whatever. What's your point exactly?"

  "Just that- "

  I paused and looked over at Mikey, then back at Devin.

  "It's weird."

  I didn't want to say what I was actually thinking. That the woods being too quiet was never a good thing. That when birds fall silent, it could mean danger... like a predator nearby, or a severe storm headed our way; neither of which I was eager to encounter out there. Besides, I was pretty sure that the boys, having both been in the scouts, knew what I knew. Saying it out loud would only serve to annoy Lacey, and further frighten Michelle.

  Mikey broke his gaze that had been fixed on me, and while scanning our surroundings, he said,

  "Let's make a stop at the clubhouse on the way."

  As soon as we arrived at our pit stop, Lacey hobbled over to the nearest lawn chair and plopped herself down in it.

  "Ugh, my feet are killing me!"

  "I wonder why..." I muttered sarcastically under my breath.

  "Excuse me, what was that?"

  "Just saying." I shrugged. "Those shoes are gonna be the death of you Lace, you can barely walk in them."

  "Pshh, shut up! They fit fine, I just need to break 'em in is all. You're just jealous cuz you still gotta wear your dirty old Vans from last year!"

  "Ooh yeah, you really got me there! I am so sad I don't have a pair of ugly ass pink sketchers that don't fit me."

  She stuck her tongue out at me, then we both laughed. Lacey's cattiness, combined with her over-competitive nature, seemed to hinder her ability to form close female friendships, with the exception of me. I was the only girl at school who could really go toe to toe with her sass without it resulting in a hair-pulling match. It's part of the reason we ended up being BFFs, in addition to being neighbors.

  Regarding our styles, personalities and interests, we were pretty much polar opposites, but quick-witted humor and our proclivity to call out bullshit were, at least, two things we had in common. More importantly though, she and I had a mutual respect when it came to our differences. Neither one of us tried to change the other, so it just worked.

  While that exchange had been going on, Michelle had began picking tiny pink flowers, and I could hear the boys rummaging for something inside the clubhouse. I yelled over in their direction,

  "Hey! Big Mike, Dirty D!!"

  Lacey and I giggled, and she mouthed the word 'big' with air quotation marks. They didn't respond, so I approached the entryway and looked in. They were standing with their backs toward me, looking down at a large open metal box, and Mikey was reaching down to grab whatever was in it. I walked inside, and as he stood back up, I could clearly see what it was.

  "What the fuck? Mikey... Seriously??"

  Hearing my expletive, Lacey and Michelle ran over and crowded in behind me.

  "Chill, it's just a BB gun."

  "I'm not stupid, Michael. I know it's a BB gun. What are you doing with it, and why is it here?"

  I was livid at the thought that he might be going out there and shooting at animals just to be a shithead. I expected something like that from a goober like Devin, but not Mikey. Right on cue, Michelle butted in.

  "I'm telling mom!!!"

  "Nice try, Dad knows I have it."

  He looked at me, then softened his tone.

  "Look, it's just for protection. Okay? Ya know, in case we run into a black bear or some weirdo creep out here. Seriously, it's just to scare something off, not hurt it."

  "Unless... it is some weirdo creep. Then we'll blast 'em to high heaven! Bears, though? They get a pass, this time..." Devin laughed, breaking the tension.

  Mikey knew exactly how I felt about killing animals, especially for no good reason. A lot of folks in Trillium are poor and hunt for food, which I could accept as an unfortunate reality of living in a rural mountain town. But, hurting animals just for fun? That's textbook future serial killer behavior, so I was relieved to hear him dispel my fear over it. I really didn't want to have to hate him.

  "Do you even know how to shoot that thing?" Lacey asked him.

  "Yeah, my dad showed me."

  Devin obnoxiously clapped his hands together loudly, making us all jump and himself laugh, then said,

  "Well, alright losers, let's get going!"

  I turned to Michelle, still grasping the flowers tightly in her hand.

  "You okay?" I asked.

  She nodded.

  "If you want me to walk back with you, I can."

  I was slightly hoping she'd say yes, just so I'd have an excuse to bail, but she just shook her head and forced a smile. I knew how scared she was, but she was just too curious. Maybe I was too.