Things only got stranger the next day.799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc8jj3AdwUO
"Please, lady, they're eating me! They'll kill me if you don't make them go away!" a female patient pleaded. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQDaV5vDHy4
"Shh. It's alright. We'll make them go away," Julia reassured her patient soothingly, despite the fact nothing was on her. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWiClk6g9q0
"I'll get her a tranquilizer," one of the other interns said. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9O1AuLBbg7
"That would probably be best," Julia replied. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0pzPLfAx80
"Will it make these things get off me?!" the patient asked frantically. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfGoqMVHfv3
"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." 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBqlV7b3oK7
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. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmjtTCXotCI
"Something's wrong," Julia said, shaking her head. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07oGgLiNZJ
"We all know that," a male doctor in the group, named Dave, said. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7FOm6EH3O
"I'm going to try again," Julia said. "Maybe I can get Crane to change their prescriptions." 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVFZxhu0oFx
"I think you should wait until break time to do that," he cautioned. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAvaeWILvoW
"Well, this is kind of important," she said. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBKPPQrcaV
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. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhlLdqE3LZ
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. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Zrptn6JrQ
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. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡImDOz4dApp
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. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMgEfRyTrTS
No, Julia, no... But yet she still stubbornly unlatched the briefcase to find it was some kind of...799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdwhlnxfgoh
But she didn't have a chance to finish her thought about what it could possibly be. "Can I help you?" 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ehuSmiMQR
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. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ69dLyt5Hx
"Oh, well, please do then," Dr. Crane said, eyebrows raised. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq2cgkXRGhw
"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. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQiVTH7d4Zd
"And you thought my briefcase might have something as well?" 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOB7fnajFdX
"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." 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtjfurLxNN
"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." 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZWxjrQfX3
She couldn't have been more relieved. "Thank you...I promise I'll never do it again." 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhjicGx5i5q
Dr. Crane smiled. "I know you won't."799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaVhgpa1FzQ
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. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwqFrlpRkka
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. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7za6KwLEBG
Ms. Madison, 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw1xL0nzXlz
Meet me at the coffee shop when your shift ends, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGm3cwtnyp3
-Crane799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZen58d5w40
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. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAO8BKPaVUZ
She quickly pocketed the note, thinking she was still alone, but Dave and Velonda, a friend of hers at Arkham, saw anyway. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLuFiW5Qpiw
"What was that?" Velonda asked. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHpnF3MV8KP
"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." 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDPU8rSQT8a
Velonda just laughed, but Dave shuddered. "Well I'm glad you're not, because sometimes I don't know about him." 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCc7zjx8Qs8
"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." 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmbQowFanBo
"But what did that note say? I mean, if you don't mind telling us," Velonda said carefully. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQv6scI3j5A
"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. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm4fRePtbq6
Velonda and Dave shared glances. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Y0eVCgJqu
Julia sighed. "Please, not you too. I assure you it's a business meeting, not a date." 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDAe8naR2J
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. 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWB0oXbAzBu
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." 799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyAM40vVCy
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.
799Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndqSCwpjVX
