Things only got stranger the next day.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pjJdZKwwb
"Please, lady, they're eating me! They'll kill me if you don't make them go away!" a female patient pleaded. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRJmnSBoJF
"Shh. It's alright. We'll make them go away," Julia reassured her patient soothingly, despite the fact nothing was on her. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6s6lKoxCzs
"I'll get her a tranquilizer," one of the other interns said. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA20X1VN0LN
"That would probably be best," Julia replied. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqcgDc9NYUO
"Will it make these things get off me?!" the patient asked frantically. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY3WuFwMvZr
"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." 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlYrpbYcS8U
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. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoH8nVcDlts
"Something's wrong," Julia said, shaking her head. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKsmRqiWp9v
"We all know that," a male doctor in the group, named Dave, said. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuwQAeNV1K0
"I'm going to try again," Julia said. "Maybe I can get Crane to change their prescriptions." 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIU2GfGLuYO
"I think you should wait until break time to do that," he cautioned. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2TKJgEHps
"Well, this is kind of important," she said. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGwnySE24b9
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. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUfzKBCiRY
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. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe3cRgeX4El
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. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9xOUwvacAC
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. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡELDd3H3CBl
No, Julia, no... But yet she still stubbornly unlatched the briefcase to find it was some kind of...940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXjeEs3hUJ
But she didn't have a chance to finish her thought about what it could possibly be. "Can I help you?" 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwdIef5KpJM
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. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡStjDyA92ef
"Oh, well, please do then," Dr. Crane said, eyebrows raised. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtic9yhUODB
"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. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOEy2HTRz8
"And you thought my briefcase might have something as well?" 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfFQRCPzgck
"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." 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQQELz7V1C
"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." 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8HAHaFhVD
She couldn't have been more relieved. "Thank you...I promise I'll never do it again." 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDxxuojGRwX
Dr. Crane smiled. "I know you won't."940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlH5ZEUVXfl
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. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoFFJLSXVcq
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. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHrga9spWn
Ms. Madison, 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9vHEc2VaQ
Meet me at the coffee shop when your shift ends, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQb0mreoju
-Crane940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rqJIvfnoM
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. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡauMxkNl6wU
She quickly pocketed the note, thinking she was still alone, but Dave and Velonda, a friend of hers at Arkham, saw anyway. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU3uAyEqxOd
"What was that?" Velonda asked. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡceVHwuilyW
"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." 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VyIhWGGmN
Velonda just laughed, but Dave shuddered. "Well I'm glad you're not, because sometimes I don't know about him." 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvO5izz092
"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." 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvloPfse4jD
"But what did that note say? I mean, if you don't mind telling us," Velonda said carefully. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJY575jDWm
"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. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVPWSYPbopZ
Velonda and Dave shared glances. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3w7FD0RrI
Julia sighed. "Please, not you too. I assure you it's a business meeting, not a date." 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIYUjthInvr
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. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfedLL7f9LX
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." 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN3h09zKr6W
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.
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