Things only got stranger the next day.930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI8fQQso7gG
"Please, lady, they're eating me! They'll kill me if you don't make them go away!" a female patient pleaded. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrtVZQGsvfa
"Shh. It's alright. We'll make them go away," Julia reassured her patient soothingly, despite the fact nothing was on her. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡysao561VPt
"I'll get her a tranquilizer," one of the other interns said. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbeS74DNff
"That would probably be best," Julia replied. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsBCPSUbL1
"Will it make these things get off me?!" the patient asked frantically. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY0OKen32iA
"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." 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU3E6W5vzes
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. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrt8ieGi3aO
"Something's wrong," Julia said, shaking her head. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WFXJMRppz
"We all know that," a male doctor in the group, named Dave, said. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOogqedTjkb
"I'm going to try again," Julia said. "Maybe I can get Crane to change their prescriptions." 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrnnLM6kM30
"I think you should wait until break time to do that," he cautioned. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MTeNFJepu
"Well, this is kind of important," she said. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9yQ6i7T5lP
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. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ535WDhqHq8
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. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFpknrSfaAs
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. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOUsepJJjjo
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. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK1pQXB97za
No, Julia, no... But yet she still stubbornly unlatched the briefcase to find it was some kind of...930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfm26YoBX2
But she didn't have a chance to finish her thought about what it could possibly be. "Can I help you?" 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWSbYsg4WKU
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. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2641eM97G3
"Oh, well, please do then," Dr. Crane said, eyebrows raised. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡerHrQpu2xI
"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. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFYCvgqb63m
"And you thought my briefcase might have something as well?" 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4Rv1c7SpH
"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." 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBtqOARhfj
"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." 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3TlpRbrS7h
She couldn't have been more relieved. "Thank you...I promise I'll never do it again." 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApusQYDvPV
Dr. Crane smiled. "I know you won't."930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2OStkEgtX4
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. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsuUjNyF4ze
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. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ15MoixY4U
Ms. Madison, 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu3YKgxdldM
Meet me at the coffee shop when your shift ends, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8v5ctPmmnh
-Crane930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2AtLxnRyR7
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. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAElVJc4nnz
She quickly pocketed the note, thinking she was still alone, but Dave and Velonda, a friend of hers at Arkham, saw anyway. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjaPHHaEwp
"What was that?" Velonda asked. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcnLdzxUPK
"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." 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ74CpLFQIVU
Velonda just laughed, but Dave shuddered. "Well I'm glad you're not, because sometimes I don't know about him." 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkYPa7SO0lJ
"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." 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndeN8iPWhK
"But what did that note say? I mean, if you don't mind telling us," Velonda said carefully. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWF0vclFWpc
"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. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXptpmaEV0a
Velonda and Dave shared glances. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnKtOFl68M1
Julia sighed. "Please, not you too. I assure you it's a business meeting, not a date." 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4EGchGDs1M
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. 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqGDuu5l0q
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." 930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKh3AVF2e8
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.
930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXVQv5iV0N
