Things only got stranger the next day.859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZyJhEiYbP
"Please, lady, they're eating me! They'll kill me if you don't make them go away!" a female patient pleaded. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVBrdg7E3N
"Shh. It's alright. We'll make them go away," Julia reassured her patient soothingly, despite the fact nothing was on her. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLNBBqn4Nqa
"I'll get her a tranquilizer," one of the other interns said. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdWgN96UiQT
"That would probably be best," Julia replied. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuiKg6zwCNd
"Will it make these things get off me?!" the patient asked frantically. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmZhE4wUVuy
"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." 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzx2COPUkbn
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. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOrLtxSlfTQ
"Something's wrong," Julia said, shaking her head. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGmsg9JR48
"We all know that," a male doctor in the group, named Dave, said. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBNRjEikCvO
"I'm going to try again," Julia said. "Maybe I can get Crane to change their prescriptions." 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS9SWzAbjIG
"I think you should wait until break time to do that," he cautioned. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHB1TMII6Cy
"Well, this is kind of important," she said. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MwoqrhJVv
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. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Fuks0hjD9
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. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkfKS7zBR7h
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. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeoNpQ8WPaY
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. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJsWA5KXFxf
No, Julia, no... But yet she still stubbornly unlatched the briefcase to find it was some kind of...859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuoZlYj4EIc
But she didn't have a chance to finish her thought about what it could possibly be. "Can I help you?" 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7GdzTvons5
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. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ73PuQwo80z
"Oh, well, please do then," Dr. Crane said, eyebrows raised. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcbAB5FwAw
"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. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡleC2tfNmq0
"And you thought my briefcase might have something as well?" 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6husmJQs0g
"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." 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjdZHL4K2F
"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." 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡip0OWkZGmG
She couldn't have been more relieved. "Thank you...I promise I'll never do it again." 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhxpiccX3ft
Dr. Crane smiled. "I know you won't."859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPuZMOjJ9TG
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. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkA2p4S7P9q
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. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuHWYUCRHq6
Ms. Madison, 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNPCV4cn0Cc
Meet me at the coffee shop when your shift ends, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw1elLJQHzK
-Crane859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV8Fghp8Jpe
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. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyUxiRgUCAX
She quickly pocketed the note, thinking she was still alone, but Dave and Velonda, a friend of hers at Arkham, saw anyway. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNA8N7C5EIU
"What was that?" Velonda asked. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC541zgQG7M
"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." 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59xyMHm8dB
Velonda just laughed, but Dave shuddered. "Well I'm glad you're not, because sometimes I don't know about him." 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ7sT4STfZM
"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." 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQddllDxII3
"But what did that note say? I mean, if you don't mind telling us," Velonda said carefully. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdU2sLC9lNS
"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. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTuOzKTVgE3
Velonda and Dave shared glances. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqUsmFBLVX
Julia sighed. "Please, not you too. I assure you it's a business meeting, not a date." 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6unfYp8sCs
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. 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5MHKRUsyBc
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." 859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ00l6BwYk9S
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.
859Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3aXJFaAzZ
