Things only got stranger the next day.890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm3fqjtay8u
"Please, lady, they're eating me! They'll kill me if you don't make them go away!" a female patient pleaded. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxPfqmAg51q
"Shh. It's alright. We'll make them go away," Julia reassured her patient soothingly, despite the fact nothing was on her. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO9uCeT2a2P
"I'll get her a tranquilizer," one of the other interns said. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3R21xw1KSi
"That would probably be best," Julia replied. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKGOipyDYFZ
"Will it make these things get off me?!" the patient asked frantically. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJo0dloV9g
"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." 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDYNlfpESuB
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. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDJMfOWwTqp
"Something's wrong," Julia said, shaking her head. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDfy3rpXOT
"We all know that," a male doctor in the group, named Dave, said. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYMnONKvMg
"I'm going to try again," Julia said. "Maybe I can get Crane to change their prescriptions." 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO1OV9kd4WT
"I think you should wait until break time to do that," he cautioned. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0qtBuxL5Hb
"Well, this is kind of important," she said. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGvDpjjHnI
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. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyU3p626jCu
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. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1aSIDnCJWG
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. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHMVMSMdUz
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. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUF31Pvblcy
No, Julia, no... But yet she still stubbornly unlatched the briefcase to find it was some kind of...890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaEIANoIcbt
But she didn't have a chance to finish her thought about what it could possibly be. "Can I help you?" 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQBKb847COV
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. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFzyEVKpqT
"Oh, well, please do then," Dr. Crane said, eyebrows raised. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxiCkXnso2A
"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. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSf9Jzuh84
"And you thought my briefcase might have something as well?" 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Dk3ej7P9h
"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." 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpaow636Y6p
"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." 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOa9uKbusNQ
She couldn't have been more relieved. "Thank you...I promise I'll never do it again." 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZePtSRPila
Dr. Crane smiled. "I know you won't."890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzJWCu4la31
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. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmbflbiAeiy
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. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc452gLHGdH
Ms. Madison, 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ35vpWcROkT
Meet me at the coffee shop when your shift ends, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5pIxwj7mg2
-Crane890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSsqhhTAQK4
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. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNoq7sNfuYF
She quickly pocketed the note, thinking she was still alone, but Dave and Velonda, a friend of hers at Arkham, saw anyway. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq1KQQZMcbE
"What was that?" Velonda asked. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUR57D2eFLI
"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." 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhYhTCuBmni
Velonda just laughed, but Dave shuddered. "Well I'm glad you're not, because sometimes I don't know about him." 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCEA0BhGA5u
"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." 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDpYJh6IQTZ
"But what did that note say? I mean, if you don't mind telling us," Velonda said carefully. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlQSxPBXMJ
"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. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIKdX5rDRHw
Velonda and Dave shared glances. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3huvphvxZO
Julia sighed. "Please, not you too. I assure you it's a business meeting, not a date." 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8XapixmQ0M
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. 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdqNTpY9Ea
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." 890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWHwxlwgOmX
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.
890Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxl1XYit7pk
