How I Ruined My Life by T. L. Bainter
Publication date: February 12th 2016
Genres: Contemporary, Romance,
Synopsis:
Kyle has gone unnoticed for the vast majority of his life and he’s always preferred it that way. Homeschooled, shy, and only attending church because he’s forced to, there’s not really anything outstanding or interesting about him. That changes, however, when he meets James Porter. The two are fast friends, but Kyle isn’t sure if that’s a good thing or not. While some of the experiences resulting from their friendship are grand, many other experiences leave Kyle broken, angry, and depressed. Is Kyle’s friendship with James really such a good thing, or would he have been better off if he’d simply remained the quiet, lonely boy that no one seemed to notice?
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Excerpt:
As soon as it's clear that Lauren has finished
rambling and fuming, I turn away from her and walk into the chapel. There's a
black trash bag inside of my suitcase that I intend to use as a means of
holding my dirty clothes. I remove that bag from the suitcase and place the
sweaty, nasty clothes that I'd worn while riding around with Jacob directly
inside of it. When I place the bag beside the couch, I hear Lauren clear her
vast throat behind me. Turning around, I ask her if something is wrong.
“Yes,”
Lauren tells me, somehow managing to fold her stubby arms across her enormous
bosom. “You really think we want a bag of dirt laundry in our chapel? Where worship
happens?”
“Um...”
“That
will be going in the nursery,” she tells me.
I
blink. “So you want me to take my dirt clothes...and put them in the nursery?
Where babies will be?”
“There
won't be babies. The nursery isn't in use. It's mostly storage right now.”
“Then...why
did you call it a nursery?”
Lauren
rolls her eyes, as if I'm the one who's being a nuisance. “Follow me,”
she says. The woman leads me back into the hallway and shows me to a room at
the far end of the church. When she opens the door to the room, I genuinely
gasp as a result of its contents. Stacks and stacks of various paraphernalia
clutter the entire room. From where I'm standing, I can see a treadmill that's
been broken down into a multitude of parts, many of which have been shoved into
what appears to be a dilapidated crib. There's a rocking chair on its side at
the very top of an incredibly tall stack of plastic bins. In the center of the
room is a rack of clothing that appears to be composed almost entirely of
costumes for theatrical plays.
It's
all terribly repulsive. “What...happened in here?”
“We
just use it for storage,” Lauren says. “And you can store your dirty clothes in
here. That way, no one has to look at them or smell them.”
People
have to smell you, but I don't see anyone putting you in here. Opting to
once again keep my thoughts to myself, I place my bag of dirty clothes inside
of the cluttered nursery and close the door. One thing I certainly don't look
forward to is looking inside of that dreadful room every time that I need to
discard my dirty laundry.
I
return to the chapel, not knowing what else to do. Lauren and Jacob have gone
off to do their own things it would seem, so I have the entire chapel to
myself. At last, there is peace and quiet. It's doomed to end, however, when I
hear the front door open. A pair of heels click and clack against the foyer
floor.
AUTHOR BIO:
T. L. Bainter was born in 1994 and began writing short stories not long after that. Since the age of six, he has been churning out short story after short story. After receiving an award from the renowned Writers of the Future competition for his short story Edwin, T. L. Bainter found the confidence and encouragement that he needed to write and publish his first novel: How I Ruined My Life. Currently, he resides in Kansas City with his cat, Sooba.
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Thanks for hosting today, Tiffany! :)
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