Things only got stranger the next day.816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjzgWmYyNoD
"Please, lady, they're eating me! They'll kill me if you don't make them go away!" a female patient pleaded. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡms8qxhm4RZ
"Shh. It's alright. We'll make them go away," Julia reassured her patient soothingly, despite the fact nothing was on her. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjBDyxHBne0
"I'll get her a tranquilizer," one of the other interns said. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGZWYMfbQ3
"That would probably be best," Julia replied. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWED1lRfYSh
"Will it make these things get off me?!" the patient asked frantically. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUT0FNqM2PK
"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." 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNMCKIbZXR
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. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Z5W4bINnj
"Something's wrong," Julia said, shaking her head. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCbTEEDOjoQ
"We all know that," a male doctor in the group, named Dave, said. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv091o6IUaw
"I'm going to try again," Julia said. "Maybe I can get Crane to change their prescriptions." 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEC0rVMwFa
"I think you should wait until break time to do that," he cautioned. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZ4fx0eGEo
"Well, this is kind of important," she said. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuyrBaVl724
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. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7uwBJABWH
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. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPkPld3ijOz
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. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzL6JSSLFnr
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. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugXZsn4xdB
No, Julia, no... But yet she still stubbornly unlatched the briefcase to find it was some kind of...816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvb3jyOhg4A
But she didn't have a chance to finish her thought about what it could possibly be. "Can I help you?" 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTd451oUdHu
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. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHJ0YWzwzSI
"Oh, well, please do then," Dr. Crane said, eyebrows raised. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzTEVIO0zv
"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. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlzxrg8nMlY
"And you thought my briefcase might have something as well?" 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWwhIISNtY5
"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." 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuN3D5ctBZR
"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." 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqDu2PqoW4
She couldn't have been more relieved. "Thank you...I promise I'll never do it again." 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwE8cJLOmgX
Dr. Crane smiled. "I know you won't."816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBZQK9M0PQ1
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. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxoWs2ngIgV
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. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4yja4BNQ0
Ms. Madison, 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3GdL0ztPJJ
Meet me at the coffee shop when your shift ends, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWQgKOZP3R
-Crane816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjLm4kBWQP
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. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡStIhXJjTw4
She quickly pocketed the note, thinking she was still alone, but Dave and Velonda, a friend of hers at Arkham, saw anyway. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7AhS05gUB
"What was that?" Velonda asked. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNlHOBkElKa
"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." 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzB8v5qYmEU
Velonda just laughed, but Dave shuddered. "Well I'm glad you're not, because sometimes I don't know about him." 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv7FlmwItko
"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." 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRp6O3JwtMi
"But what did that note say? I mean, if you don't mind telling us," Velonda said carefully. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0UxXNKT8o
"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. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Y3KfIWXdo
Velonda and Dave shared glances. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtWYfyZKfmf
Julia sighed. "Please, not you too. I assure you it's a business meeting, not a date." 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX1OZr2iPJh
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. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCl3RycNb1j
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." 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPXGbaEKT4u
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.
816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7YNPxnnUJ
