Things only got stranger the next day.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkRrfPHmlMX
"Please, lady, they're eating me! They'll kill me if you don't make them go away!" a female patient pleaded. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6MYLrAcRmL
"Shh. It's alright. We'll make them go away," Julia reassured her patient soothingly, despite the fact nothing was on her. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvOPzKI0qg
"I'll get her a tranquilizer," one of the other interns said. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz6EhTTbAl4
"That would probably be best," Julia replied. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsPAGQSjlcC
"Will it make these things get off me?!" the patient asked frantically. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfbHeBKzD64
"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." 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFeoZy3FY9C
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. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUZuunN0Du
"Something's wrong," Julia said, shaking her head. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgeJkb8Cjqb
"We all know that," a male doctor in the group, named Dave, said. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdRK3caECE
"I'm going to try again," Julia said. "Maybe I can get Crane to change their prescriptions." 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPd0RXq6L9X
"I think you should wait until break time to do that," he cautioned. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsRsFhQV8U
"Well, this is kind of important," she said. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMk2PJwUJ5u
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. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxOwCHxV2Fr
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. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlMv1TdxF5n
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. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6VEITC9F5
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. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡccEyoOterE
No, Julia, no... But yet she still stubbornly unlatched the briefcase to find it was some kind of...806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUpso0ITaNk
But she didn't have a chance to finish her thought about what it could possibly be. "Can I help you?" 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9KR5grpiw
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. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRRRyO6Xhu
"Oh, well, please do then," Dr. Crane said, eyebrows raised. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVa99fyKGlp
"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. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP50bsFrpWa
"And you thought my briefcase might have something as well?" 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIFwoiX3JeN
"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." 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEAGawdQVq
"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." 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntkS9rxETX
She couldn't have been more relieved. "Thank you...I promise I'll never do it again." 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwoOzXoMK0H
Dr. Crane smiled. "I know you won't."806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyR43AaX3M
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. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkhzloiHTuR
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. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡra27urHppL
Ms. Madison, 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡebwufRnWvL
Meet me at the coffee shop when your shift ends, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKC2tH1xqgD
-Crane806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI0QxPvjOEU
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. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxx6AX3u3dh
She quickly pocketed the note, thinking she was still alone, but Dave and Velonda, a friend of hers at Arkham, saw anyway. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjaCzes5uL
"What was that?" Velonda asked. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBxWtwYMcPe
"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." 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgVOX3MtOhV
Velonda just laughed, but Dave shuddered. "Well I'm glad you're not, because sometimes I don't know about him." 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NIA4Aixr1
"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." 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmjiAgRxfRC
"But what did that note say? I mean, if you don't mind telling us," Velonda said carefully. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Q9sZzY6to
"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. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpyF7t3loF
Velonda and Dave shared glances. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX5xoou3OiC
Julia sighed. "Please, not you too. I assure you it's a business meeting, not a date." 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5of49qW1a
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. 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV40nioo0RF
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." 806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKm6vqxHHRV
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.
806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4AXx1vRwq
