Things only got stranger the next day.937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡErus7C0GYI
"Please, lady, they're eating me! They'll kill me if you don't make them go away!" a female patient pleaded. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1wqrsvyGT
"Shh. It's alright. We'll make them go away," Julia reassured her patient soothingly, despite the fact nothing was on her. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB896GrxTDd
"I'll get her a tranquilizer," one of the other interns said. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ91Eg5GaTd
"That would probably be best," Julia replied. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOE85UDYlVp
"Will it make these things get off me?!" the patient asked frantically. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMUh9HZUA9J
"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." 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡav3uX1wsBE
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. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZxKvn5vyQK
"Something's wrong," Julia said, shaking her head. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkPHMdGk70w
"We all know that," a male doctor in the group, named Dave, said. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzZvueBHHAv
"I'm going to try again," Julia said. "Maybe I can get Crane to change their prescriptions." 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZ7dSNdJXd
"I think you should wait until break time to do that," he cautioned. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbNrQedaYp
"Well, this is kind of important," she said. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVP0Frds2D0
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. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZiCItVVAfi
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. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3QcABc64mp
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. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVbEWPa4s2
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. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBBPXfHrCX0
No, Julia, no... But yet she still stubbornly unlatched the briefcase to find it was some kind of...937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaGe9LInGGC
But she didn't have a chance to finish her thought about what it could possibly be. "Can I help you?" 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlb1RJtTRFW
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. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSzKbfZlyTG
"Oh, well, please do then," Dr. Crane said, eyebrows raised. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiLWWGo3lWu
"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. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJj6HWANcli
"And you thought my briefcase might have something as well?" 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd22aYaIW1g
"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." 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOX8lZS4bme
"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." 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡye6NiSMXfl
She couldn't have been more relieved. "Thank you...I promise I'll never do it again." 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpKiHQbA2Tu
Dr. Crane smiled. "I know you won't."937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfqstn2Fngx
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. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHafWHz6NFe
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. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGHXGmaonzZ
Ms. Madison, 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDdPISxYUmY
Meet me at the coffee shop when your shift ends, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5qhTohj9e2
-Crane937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8w1WWf61N0
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. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKjlGTfcYbA
She quickly pocketed the note, thinking she was still alone, but Dave and Velonda, a friend of hers at Arkham, saw anyway. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzXsROryCd
"What was that?" Velonda asked. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmaYeigOueX
"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." 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBB8TCs9Gu8
Velonda just laughed, but Dave shuddered. "Well I'm glad you're not, because sometimes I don't know about him." 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuWuHkorZBp
"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." 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLifrlAF6Eb
"But what did that note say? I mean, if you don't mind telling us," Velonda said carefully. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPAKOUfd1Q
"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. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUf4HtQ0HE
Velonda and Dave shared glances. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXHwDv7OCpc
Julia sighed. "Please, not you too. I assure you it's a business meeting, not a date." 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08kfACOPuM
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. 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1UjDLh2zD
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." 937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6OFL0HmEa
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.
937Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuQHx7iL4Gb
