Things only got stranger the next day.938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡps1zzClUyZ
"Please, lady, they're eating me! They'll kill me if you don't make them go away!" a female patient pleaded. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3UQMWUyT4
"Shh. It's alright. We'll make them go away," Julia reassured her patient soothingly, despite the fact nothing was on her. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14O3WgmgYs
"I'll get her a tranquilizer," one of the other interns said. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHfRR1JV6tQ
"That would probably be best," Julia replied. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzRrEuHL66
"Will it make these things get off me?!" the patient asked frantically. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9glGBzMIO
"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." 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSrf6g2Xgp
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. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmlVH6Q8dE
"Something's wrong," Julia said, shaking her head. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvBwT67p4Fe
"We all know that," a male doctor in the group, named Dave, said. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYp2YgpNrW0
"I'm going to try again," Julia said. "Maybe I can get Crane to change their prescriptions." 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYeUji6u7uZ
"I think you should wait until break time to do that," he cautioned. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUkG5sF5wN
"Well, this is kind of important," she said. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSgGkWg4Iwo
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. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡws1jwVbMeF
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. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCmLwoECu4a
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. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDuYHoRVOH5
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. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEz6aw3qHAZ
No, Julia, no... But yet she still stubbornly unlatched the briefcase to find it was some kind of...938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFcymAmVU9
But she didn't have a chance to finish her thought about what it could possibly be. "Can I help you?" 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9vfFwfZG9
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. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVc92ryGdQ
"Oh, well, please do then," Dr. Crane said, eyebrows raised. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr1FxaexXsO
"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. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEMdogK5mfo
"And you thought my briefcase might have something as well?" 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKsyizjyO0
"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." 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJtpwnDuA2
"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." 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYNHUPxpS1
She couldn't have been more relieved. "Thank you...I promise I'll never do it again." 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3aDKNhpGC
Dr. Crane smiled. "I know you won't."938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUXNRebCsZU
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. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfBF3cGKASN
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. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrsdwZFTzPj
Ms. Madison, 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0EYKiOre2f
Meet me at the coffee shop when your shift ends, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlyHe9b0BZJ
-Crane938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrLYpd5YPx8
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. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyC3fIKEsW7
She quickly pocketed the note, thinking she was still alone, but Dave and Velonda, a friend of hers at Arkham, saw anyway. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhtOtNSnoSm
"What was that?" Velonda asked. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzhq4DYmTO
"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." 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtoJxHXckkx
Velonda just laughed, but Dave shuddered. "Well I'm glad you're not, because sometimes I don't know about him." 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiO1EHUJPya
"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." 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVfjvzRafN
"But what did that note say? I mean, if you don't mind telling us," Velonda said carefully. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtbzTzlMSC8
"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. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgHDrwjku6a
Velonda and Dave shared glances. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLiu8gTShg
Julia sighed. "Please, not you too. I assure you it's a business meeting, not a date." 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4q151B3byQ
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. 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2yS54CHz7K
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." 938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXd4r55ra8r
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.
938Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxB2OSDYrk
