Things only got stranger the next day.883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBshJoR2ZBp
"Please, lady, they're eating me! They'll kill me if you don't make them go away!" a female patient pleaded. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJx9B8fhYDm
"Shh. It's alright. We'll make them go away," Julia reassured her patient soothingly, despite the fact nothing was on her. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ736qA60Xx3
"I'll get her a tranquilizer," one of the other interns said. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeNNb969bvV
"That would probably be best," Julia replied. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4aPvTVFYE
"Will it make these things get off me?!" the patient asked frantically. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF2qsqS99QI
"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." 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyx5LpsJXuU
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. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOVzvahUW0z
"Something's wrong," Julia said, shaking her head. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgWm2ag7wbr
"We all know that," a male doctor in the group, named Dave, said. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkt8qaFtWhu
"I'm going to try again," Julia said. "Maybe I can get Crane to change their prescriptions." 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLCYRijcMu
"I think you should wait until break time to do that," he cautioned. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHenN1sENT2
"Well, this is kind of important," she said. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZCXxAjsKA
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. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgueeE9nfR7
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. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNoKQK3XbUP
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. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJCXHO1M8gs
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. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoTjZHbBKtk
No, Julia, no... But yet she still stubbornly unlatched the briefcase to find it was some kind of...883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsapK01h7xb
But she didn't have a chance to finish her thought about what it could possibly be. "Can I help you?" 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq81C4jJ3VN
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. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBWRU6LzsQQ
"Oh, well, please do then," Dr. Crane said, eyebrows raised. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmnGEig4qN2
"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. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRCZ4mtUAsO
"And you thought my briefcase might have something as well?" 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7fkKqyyPX
"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." 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKimrY4jNh7
"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." 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0eyU0CCg8
She couldn't have been more relieved. "Thank you...I promise I'll never do it again." 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4l6zMPxZJ
Dr. Crane smiled. "I know you won't."883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl6JaVsznM1
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. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp99s38QSIl
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. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9zr0jelaD
Ms. Madison, 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvNyvkBiYiT
Meet me at the coffee shop when your shift ends, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcGUfGAZfvA
-Crane883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelHMZpVKbv
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. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkIZy623a3
She quickly pocketed the note, thinking she was still alone, but Dave and Velonda, a friend of hers at Arkham, saw anyway. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Kf3bEvhDd
"What was that?" Velonda asked. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPWoDeMSFS
"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." 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQ7DFcohHO
Velonda just laughed, but Dave shuddered. "Well I'm glad you're not, because sometimes I don't know about him." 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkFkDMpwuY
"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." 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30BMEhv0In
"But what did that note say? I mean, if you don't mind telling us," Velonda said carefully. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzXMTRGfaRP
"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. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDa1UUHount
Velonda and Dave shared glances. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaOnAQsepIy
Julia sighed. "Please, not you too. I assure you it's a business meeting, not a date." 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgB0UvxTwli
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. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqpm6fjCIcr
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." 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZIXP7ORL6f
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.
883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRceIi61R7s
