Things only got stranger the next day.973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxijz3uavBS
"Please, lady, they're eating me! They'll kill me if you don't make them go away!" a female patient pleaded. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPEevH8LoF
"Shh. It's alright. We'll make them go away," Julia reassured her patient soothingly, despite the fact nothing was on her. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQGEgEYab0
"I'll get her a tranquilizer," one of the other interns said. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpf5tMvX6z
"That would probably be best," Julia replied. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDgGeqCYNl
"Will it make these things get off me?!" the patient asked frantically. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTg2Xo0DDD
"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." 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGDKzJBsfGn
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. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBufQfbYG9
"Something's wrong," Julia said, shaking her head. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWWafDTo9r
"We all know that," a male doctor in the group, named Dave, said. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkAdR8mIxat
"I'm going to try again," Julia said. "Maybe I can get Crane to change their prescriptions." 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡppUoW4Zb06
"I think you should wait until break time to do that," he cautioned. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpd1R9hsLmJ
"Well, this is kind of important," she said. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQaB9VW8Kmr
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. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7a38mEvqs
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. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBfjf1uUX2
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. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡleHF86eDeT
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. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ZdKx228GI
No, Julia, no... But yet she still stubbornly unlatched the briefcase to find it was some kind of...973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm098L3DCmN
But she didn't have a chance to finish her thought about what it could possibly be. "Can I help you?" 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXTMTHSlyCv
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. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBcq8cbxvx4
"Oh, well, please do then," Dr. Crane said, eyebrows raised. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXKqQ3jdak6
"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. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB0NpQ2QZWV
"And you thought my briefcase might have something as well?" 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1PSSOCbn8l
"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." 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhGgIk5vMO
"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." 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFi1ZpKzYi6
She couldn't have been more relieved. "Thank you...I promise I'll never do it again." 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0mcnFktzRd
Dr. Crane smiled. "I know you won't."973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKNBOa92zz
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. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvdKZTjlcwS
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. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDjz3uf31Pj
Ms. Madison, 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6RjMs02Iy
Meet me at the coffee shop when your shift ends, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOQEIGvpLaH
-Crane973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMj9Y0JwRbQ
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. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqODrZLtb8
She quickly pocketed the note, thinking she was still alone, but Dave and Velonda, a friend of hers at Arkham, saw anyway. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjqLtsSgokJ
"What was that?" Velonda asked. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7bgIIAMv4U
"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." 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtToys9hG1i
Velonda just laughed, but Dave shuddered. "Well I'm glad you're not, because sometimes I don't know about him." 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2M9CC44Ef9
"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." 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOX1pixxkG
"But what did that note say? I mean, if you don't mind telling us," Velonda said carefully. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoirCICBGqE
"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. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZNXUSnACIi
Velonda and Dave shared glances. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvP4EpQkwmr
Julia sighed. "Please, not you too. I assure you it's a business meeting, not a date." 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJRgvN68tG
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. 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAfHwOiSmUu
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." 973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXLwOoRSuf
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.
973Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlF7jUa1Icn
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