Michelle tried to fit in with the group as they roasted marshmallows and cooked hot dogs over the fire the men had built. She tried to cheerfully join in as they sang horrific renditions of punk and alt metal classics.(Accompanied by Mike on the acoustic guitar.)Her heart simply wasn't in it.
She was burning up, and she was sure it wasn't the heat of the fire. Her internal temperature was rising,as though she had a furnace in her stomach. Everything seemed so LOUD to her as well, nearly deafening her, hurting her ears; from the off-key caterwauling of her friends to the popping of the wood in the fire!
Michelle suddenly got up-she had to get away, to get where it was quiet! She walked briskly down the shore, ignoring the confused questions of her friends. Looking up at the sky, she seemed to have trouble focusing-the stars were swirling, and the moon seemed to have tripled in size. "What the hell is happening to me?" she whispered to herself in a shaky, fear-filled voice.
She walked for what seemed like it could have been anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour; she wasn't keeping track, and her mind was too scattered to really focus. All she knew was the sound of the small waves from the lake lapping on the shore wer comforting and natural, and the feel of the dirt underneath her bare feet felt good.
She actually was enjoying her heightened hearing(fever notwithstanding)-she could hear the crickets and cicadas, and the occasional night birds. These were sounds she never heard in the city, or even on the more secluded spots on campus. They, like the sounds of the water, and the feel of the dirt were oddly comforting to her, though they had no reason to be; she was a city girl who'd only gotten "back to nature" a few times in her entire 21 years on earth.
Suddenly, she heard a twig snap behind her, in the woods to her left.