Things only got stranger the next day.881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnP8BaI9dGH
"Please, lady, they're eating me! They'll kill me if you don't make them go away!" a female patient pleaded. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFtQFqWwBrr
"Shh. It's alright. We'll make them go away," Julia reassured her patient soothingly, despite the fact nothing was on her. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNn9xXDwAUd
"I'll get her a tranquilizer," one of the other interns said. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs54chxks0C
"That would probably be best," Julia replied. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHwliRA6iT
"Will it make these things get off me?!" the patient asked frantically. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwgwIYZ5HLm
"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." 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGvLPXlqCKK
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. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFWaCOkpnIa
"Something's wrong," Julia said, shaking her head. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7eqMF47pnU
"We all know that," a male doctor in the group, named Dave, said. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFjRLxpaUJp
"I'm going to try again," Julia said. "Maybe I can get Crane to change their prescriptions." 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMv28O5I1q
"I think you should wait until break time to do that," he cautioned. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0RUOwkfW1j
"Well, this is kind of important," she said. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7SjysDEWxW
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. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXJRIeq0N8J
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. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxaxEjNKxD7
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. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfh5zEPJ02g
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. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaF9qFRVxT1
No, Julia, no... But yet she still stubbornly unlatched the briefcase to find it was some kind of...881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsoI00AKSAt
But she didn't have a chance to finish her thought about what it could possibly be. "Can I help you?" 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9gNO55kfrq
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. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9YBTdedQLG
"Oh, well, please do then," Dr. Crane said, eyebrows raised. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDwQMwOGvr
"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. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm3OoQXqivI
"And you thought my briefcase might have something as well?" 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7bLe9Geioz
"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." 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkhS62jzvuM
"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." 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnT6UTYceMJ
She couldn't have been more relieved. "Thank you...I promise I'll never do it again." 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjRPUkQUMQ
Dr. Crane smiled. "I know you won't."881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyK42QDimAV
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. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNqBAyrukT
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. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYkUMbmvFZ
Ms. Madison, 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmX03d93KZk
Meet me at the coffee shop when your shift ends, and I'll tell you everything you need to know. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq9TXtqaah1
-Crane881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZMlfvI2uy5
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. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqMWFQfpqZQ
She quickly pocketed the note, thinking she was still alone, but Dave and Velonda, a friend of hers at Arkham, saw anyway. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50gxDf6XAU
"What was that?" Velonda asked. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fnMJ5vTG6
"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." 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWPs9U6j1u5
Velonda just laughed, but Dave shuddered. "Well I'm glad you're not, because sometimes I don't know about him." 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRN9xabsVJh
"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." 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4D9yvvY8b3
"But what did that note say? I mean, if you don't mind telling us," Velonda said carefully. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zQKsgynhZ
"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. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZAx15aC1m
Velonda and Dave shared glances. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWDnMNZxCGc
Julia sighed. "Please, not you too. I assure you it's a business meeting, not a date." 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeTHfgA64u7
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. 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2aAROe6ZP2
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." 881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ90DuoYOP0Y
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.
881Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1jMnbP3UDL
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