Things only got stranger the next day.892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG4AvFhVjZn
"Please, lady, they're eating me! They'll kill me if you don't make them go away!" a female patient pleaded. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiKI42WSnlH
"Shh. It's alright. We'll make them go away," Julia reassured her patient soothingly, despite the fact nothing was on her. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1gvmXvywM
"I'll get her a tranquilizer," one of the other interns said. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO58lq2q8kX
"That would probably be best," Julia replied. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2mskX00L9C
"Will it make these things get off me?!" the patient asked frantically. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iNS4ydZAO
"Yes, it will," Julia reassured again. "They'll be gone soon. Now I want you to look at me, nothing else. I'm right here." 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcpvtNTDJ0g
The patient quieted down eventually, but she kept looking frantically around her cell, from side to side, until finally the tranquilizer did what it was supposed to, and her eyes slowly closed. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rgJIHjJ8a
"Something's wrong," Julia said, shaking her head. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5Qe0bKJuw
"We all know that," a male doctor in the group, named Dave, said. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBITdjquss8
"I'm going to try again," Julia said. "Maybe I can get Crane to change their prescriptions." 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8IG8bPbQgA
"I think you should wait until break time to do that," he cautioned. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKMSSpdFFm
"Well, this is kind of important," she said. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDyQ6s3UPe4
But when she hurried up to his office, he didn't answer her knocks on the door. Maybe he's finally off doing something about these recent events, Julia thought, but something prevented her from turning away and re-joining her co-workers. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs20MrqTF2O
She looked both ways, and when she saw the hallway was clear except for her, she silently opened the door and stepped into the empty and surprisingly cozy office, complete with a velvet rug, an organized desk and a shelf full of books. The books were mainly works by Edgar Allan Poe, plus a few by Shakespeare--not as many psychological non-fiction books as she'd expected to see, though there were some on the bottom shelf. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkADDxK7DdB
Now I'M the one acting twelve. I should really be helping those people, Julia thought as she moved on to his desk. Harleen was wrong, though; she didn't "like" him, she just wanted to know more about him, things that she could never ask him herself but things she had to know, like why he was so into fear but yet had such a calm demeanor about him. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVnBCYk2Ap
Something suddenly caught her eye when she looked down at his briefcase under the desk. She bent down to touch the odd material sticking out of the closed briefcase, and saw it was what looked like worn burlap. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaK8xxlnsWj
No, Julia, no... But yet she still stubbornly unlatched the briefcase to find it was some kind of...892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnRhckDyd9
But she didn't have a chance to finish her thought about what it could possibly be. "Can I help you?" 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrRzVrCtElN
Blood rushed to her face, and she made herself get up and turn around to face him. "I can explain this," she said, while trying to make her heart slow down to its normal pace. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfMRrYBHyc
"Oh, well, please do then," Dr. Crane said, eyebrows raised. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjtcZCpmOPU
"I'm...I'm..." Oh, real smooth, Madison. "I know I shouldn't be in here, but..." Suddenly, a good answer came to her, even if it was a lie. Right now her job could be on the line. "I thought one of your books might have some advice to help our patients," she said quickly. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2BS7jYB1U
"And you thought my briefcase might have something as well?" 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZkGwGo9SM
"Oh...well, when I looked away from the bookshelf I couldn't help but notice some material sticking out of there and..." The back of her head and the palms of her hands tingled furiously. "Please don't fire me," she said in a near whisper. "I'm sorry." 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8IH953a1D
"Curiosity is a normal thing," he replied, going around his desk and closing the briefcase back; she noticed how he was extra careful this time to make sure the rough cloth didn't stick out. "And you may have a slight neurotic problem yourself," he added with a small laugh. "I won't fire you." 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP6xMj7adcf
She couldn't have been more relieved. "Thank you...I promise I'll never do it again." 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGXNZzXAsA
Dr. Crane smiled. "I know you won't."892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZkjNuS9ow
Even as she hopped from patient to patient after catching up with her peers (and Harleen asking her with a smirk why her visit to the office took so long), desperately trying to calm each of their patients down and assure them that the things they saw weren't real, she kept thinking to herself, Why did I have to be so stupid? I really got off lucky this time. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbBAGfl8eb
Her stomach fluttered even more during break when she got to the table where she and the others usually sat, and she saw a note waiting for her. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPggfx2gcR
Ms. Madison, 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqKhxOcgTOs
Meet me at the coffee shop when your shift ends, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYhyeDE2kHg
-Crane892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTh1zgJXpt
Julia knew there were tons of coffee shops in Gotham City, but knew which one he was talking about. Many times she'd driven past the one nearest to Arkham where employees often liked to go after work for one more burst of energy when they weren't quite ready to turn in for the night. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbSGZ9ote4k
She quickly pocketed the note, thinking she was still alone, but Dave and Velonda, a friend of hers at Arkham, saw anyway. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSltVJSygmi
"What was that?" Velonda asked. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEt1XURQm1H
"Please don't let Harleen see," Julia said with a half-hearted smile. "Just because I went to the library last night to ask Crane about the patients' behavior, she now thinks we're lovebirds." 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgvZXLKIYs
Velonda just laughed, but Dave shuddered. "Well I'm glad you're not, because sometimes I don't know about him." 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0fmjDDPcIa
"I'm sure he's a good person," Julia said, waving away his worries. "I mean, I think they check people's backgrounds and records before letting them become chief administrator of a place like this." 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ0OMIXMndb
"But what did that note say? I mean, if you don't mind telling us," Velonda said carefully. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡib0H0q9Kr5
"Oh, he just wanted to meet me at the coffee shop tonight after work." She wouldn't bother telling them about her little adventure inside the office or what she saw in there. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqknMAqbux
Velonda and Dave shared glances. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrACzJOWwOJ
Julia sighed. "Please, not you too. I assure you it's a business meeting, not a date." 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQehjk9Xd9A
Harleen waltzed in not long after Julia had said that, and she put a quick finger to the lips to signal her friends to say no more on the matter. 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2oKX3Xs6t
But still, Dave whispered across the table, "I'd take a weapon of some sort just in case. Something about this just doesn't seem right." 892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0Qwd8nUL6
He sounded just like her father, but then again, Dave's words were none too comforting to think about. Maybe she would, maybe she wouldn't.
892Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmVJxGzrjB
