The Truth About Celia Frost Read Online Free PDF Page A

leather gloves. Then they made their way down the stairs, through the dark, strange-smelling hallway, and out of the
front door.
    “Those women are there every day,” Celia whispered as they squeezed past the display of cleavages and painted faces loitering on the front steps of their guest house. “No one
dresses like that at ten in the morning. I think we’re staying in a brothel.”
    “Don’t be so silly,” Janice replied, hurrying her away down the street. “They wouldn’t do a full English breakfast in a brothel!”
    “Full English breakfast!” Celia scoffed. “You could bounce those fried eggs off the walls. If we don’t get food poisoning from this place, we’ll catch something off
the bed sheets. Have you seen the stains on them? I bet they’ve never been washed.”
    “Our room is all right – nothing that a bit of air freshener and a good scrub couldn’t fix. Anyway, we may not be here for much longer. I’m expecting a call from a
landlord. Today could be our lucky day.”
    “Why? What’s going on?”
    “I’m not telling you yet. Don’t want to get your hopes up. Let’s just say that I’ve been doing my research.”
    “I still don’t understand why we had to leave our last place. Even if you were worried about me going back to that school, there were plenty of others I could have gone
to.”
    “Give it a rest, Celia. You sound like a broken record.”
    “I’ll stop asking when you give me a decent answer.”
    “I’ve told you, I couldn’t have us living anywhere near that thug Jenkins. That place wasn’t right for us anyway. We needed a fresh start.”
    “I’ve had enough of fresh starts. I want to settle somewhere.”
    “Of course you do, love. That’s what I want too, but you know that we’ve always got to be so careful with your disorder. I’m just trying to find a place where
you’ll be safe.”
    They walked in silence towards the park, Celia deep in thought. She’d always accepted Janice’s paranoid behaviour as a consequence of looking after a child like her, but now, since
the knife attack, previously unthinkable questions had been plaguing her, making her feel physically sick.
    What if Mum’s got it wrong all these years? What if she really is just paranoid?
    They entered the park and walked past the playground, already busy with pre-schoolers falling off climbing frames and burying each other in the sandpit.
    “What’s up, love?” Janice asked. “You’re awful quiet.”
    Celia looked at her uneasily “I...I...” The censored words refused to form.
    “Out with it,” Janice laughed. “You know there’s nothing you can’t discuss with your old mum.”
    Celia braced herself, forcing the words out before she changed her mind. “I want to talk about my disorder.”
    “Oh,” Janice said coldly. “What’s there to talk about?”
    “It’s just weird, don’t you think? You’ve always told me that getting cut could make me bleed to death. But I didn’t, did I? And your only explanation is that I was
lucky!”
    “Well? You were lucky this time,” Janice said, exasperated. “Just be thankful and don’t go fretting about it.”
    “But what about that doctor, what she said? She seemed to think I could have those injections to help my blood clot. She seemed to think it was all a bit odd.”
    “What the hell does she know?” Janice snapped. “She’s no specialist. I’m your mother. I’m the one who’s looked after you all these years.”
    “But why haven’t I been seeing a consultant, a doctor, anyone who could help me?” Celia persisted.
    “Listen to me. That stupid woman has just stirred you all up. You know that they did all the tests when you were born and there’s no way of treating it. I just have to keep you safe.
Keep you from getting injured.”
    “But—” Celia continued.
    “‘But’ nothing, young lady! To be honest with you, Celia, I’m finding all this questioning a bit offensive.” Tears appeared in Janice’s