Things only got stranger the next day.865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhLEOf9LnLX
"Please, lady, they're eating me! They'll kill me if you don't make them go away!" a female patient pleaded. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZo0xz4Sf3p
"Shh. It's alright. We'll make them go away," Julia reassured her patient soothingly, despite the fact nothing was on her. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIx7pSfPGr
"I'll get her a tranquilizer," one of the other interns said. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLMIGLYoa21
"That would probably be best," Julia replied. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2QcouZTMX
"Will it make these things get off me?!" the patient asked frantically. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4bUWh8p00
"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." 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdmqiu16lOp
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. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvlMDmUX120
"Something's wrong," Julia said, shaking her head. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3n91TyxoZ
"We all know that," a male doctor in the group, named Dave, said. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHIana1tjLv
"I'm going to try again," Julia said. "Maybe I can get Crane to change their prescriptions." 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfRYEXdCYL1
"I think you should wait until break time to do that," he cautioned. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Bnvn3f1BH
"Well, this is kind of important," she said. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51KUnqnDS5
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. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXnWiKKKEeE
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. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXUY3PSARft
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. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdL8mG5eGZb
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. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4q9la7EL1h
No, Julia, no... But yet she still stubbornly unlatched the briefcase to find it was some kind of...865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwT78SXnHQk
But she didn't have a chance to finish her thought about what it could possibly be. "Can I help you?" 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUwoeGc7I8
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. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPbi5E9fMpl
"Oh, well, please do then," Dr. Crane said, eyebrows raised. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9e74TpDgSK
"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. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyuXGmqEcSi
"And you thought my briefcase might have something as well?" 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbstJX49lyT
"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." 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5ffO7ceeK
"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." 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1mJ9uriNZW
She couldn't have been more relieved. "Thank you...I promise I'll never do it again." 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuogoSPsyQN
Dr. Crane smiled. "I know you won't."865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLzeaocrdWj
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. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT6bnBWnxfH
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. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtjwSEQkSI8
Ms. Madison, 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzM8iVF3fPI
Meet me at the coffee shop when your shift ends, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdhQY3HeK4H
-Crane865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6AmXj0vax
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. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmdsVd1IHvJ
She quickly pocketed the note, thinking she was still alone, but Dave and Velonda, a friend of hers at Arkham, saw anyway. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNFXRW9Sq3
"What was that?" Velonda asked. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO4V6Q4jVgq
"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." 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK8gNdlhvyJ
Velonda just laughed, but Dave shuddered. "Well I'm glad you're not, because sometimes I don't know about him." 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcbSxYBG25
"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." 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡry4sarryDA
"But what did that note say? I mean, if you don't mind telling us," Velonda said carefully. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqXkEPE7za
"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. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB1JYZV5SW0
Velonda and Dave shared glances. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp55xSdDXKQ
Julia sighed. "Please, not you too. I assure you it's a business meeting, not a date." 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0hiZj1dfD6
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. 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDiX9Zcwbiy
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." 865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNe4LgrzFDC
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.
865Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMX9bk6DQrw
