Excerpt: My Lunatic Life by Sharon Sala

Something is wrong somewhere close. Someone is dying.

Tara bolted out of her seat and headed for the teacher as fast as she could go.

“Mrs. Wyatt, I need to be excused.”

Tara was out the door and running up the hall. She burst through a door without knocking. Several teachers looked up from their papers, some were frowning. Others just appeared surprised.

“Please. You’ve got to help me! A boy is having a seizure in one of the boys’ bathrooms. He’s going to die if he doesn’t get help.”

They were on their feet within seconds.

“Where is he?” Coach Jones asked. “I don’t know. You have to hurry.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? If you don’t know where he is, then how do you know what’s happening?”

“I just do.”

He’s on the North end, Millicent whispered in her mind. OMG, Tara thought. Why didn’t you tell me earlier?

“He’s at the north end!” she screamed, and headed that way. Coach Jones darted in the north-end boy’s bathroom. “In here!” he yelled from the doorway. “And call 911.”

Tara flew in behind him and slid down on her knees beside the boy. “Is he breathing?” she asked.

The coach was checking for a pulse. “No… God help us, no. He’s not.”

A teacher began performing CPR while another was on the phone. Tara flattened herself against a wall. She glanced over and found herself staring at the spirit of the boy who was lying on the floor.

Is that me?

He asked. Tara nodded.

Am I dead?

“I think… I think you’re somewhere in between,” Tara whispered.

There was a sad expression on the boy’s face. I don’t want to die.

“Then go back,” Tara said.

The spirit disappeared.

All of a sudden, the boy on the floor gasped, then coughed and groaned.

“He’s breathing on his own!” the coach cried.

Tara shut her eyes. Tears slid down her face.

She was still crying when someone touched her on the shoulder. It was Coach Jones.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yes sir,” she said, swiping at the tears.

“You’re new here. What’s your name?”

“Tara Luna.”

“So, Tara Luna, tell me something. How did you know?”

“Sometimes I just…. I just know stuff, okay?”

“Are we talking psychic, here?”

“You might be, but I’m not going to talk about it,” Tara said.

“I see,” Coach Jones said.

“Sometimes I wish I didn’t,” Tara said quietly, and walked away.