Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Everything Must Go
Paid publication
Book #2	Secrets of Dorley Hall
Chapter	9
Free publication
Date posted	Sep 14, 2022
Word count	30,654
Points of view	Mark/Melissa, Shahida, Aaron, neutral point-of-view
AO3 Scribble Hub
Content warnings
This is quite a heavy chapter, and contains references to suicide attempts and suicidal ideation, self-harm, dysphoria, disordered eating and purging.
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Chapter 24: Everything Must Go is the ninth chapter of the second book of the series, Secrets of Dorley Hall, and twenty-fourth chapter overall.

The chapter contains 21 scenes from Mark’s childhood and teenage years between 2006 and 2012, and two scenes late on Wednesday, 11 December 2019 (the second after midnight).

Plot

In 2006, Mark’s family moves to Almsworth from Cherston on account of bullying of Mark that led to a suicide attempt and a scar on his wrist

In 2007, Mark meets Shahida and then learns Mum is very ill

In 2008, Mark is purging; Mum’s friend Jenny realises he is bulimic. Mark meets Stef

In 2009, Mum is in hospital, she gives him her Forget Me Not iPod

Mark’s mum has died; Shahida visits Mark in spite of the hostility of his dad and brother

Mark has fun with Shahida’s friends, but Ess sees the effect of Em’s bulimia

Dad physically abuses Mark when he returns

Chat log between Em and Shy’s friends at Christmas

In 2010, Mark is gradually being reduced to a shell

Shahida gets a call from Rachel as Mark absconded from school, and finds him at the railway bridge

Shahida and Mark have a picnic at the suicide intervention, then taxi back to Shahida’s, sending an ambiguous message that Mark will be home the next day

Mark shares the nature of his depression with Shahida but is unable to determine the cause

In September 2011, Mark leaves Stef’s thirteenth birthday party to take Shahida across to his room

Mark tries on some better clothes for the party at Rachel’s

Mark and Shahida arrive at Rachel’s house for the party

Mark attends the party and is mistaken for a girl (by Tom, and confirmed by Shahida)

The party goes on and Mark gets more relaxed and rather too drunk (Amy calls Mark ‘Emily’)

Something terrible makes Mark flee just after midnight on his birthday

In mid-2012, some months later, Mark has an unfriendly meeting with Shahida

In November 2012, Mark internally monologues about his worthlessness before resolving to kill himself

Later, Abby waits for Mark outside the Legend nightclub, and they walk up to the cathedral to talk

In 2019, Maria tells Aaron that she was forcibly made a woman

In the early hours of the next morning, Melissa, having had missed calls from Abby, accesses the Dorley alumni website and sees Stephanie R. listed as being in the Dorley programme; she resolves to try to rescue him

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