Inspired by the stinger of "Gone Boy."
Alone in the lighthouse, Bob washed the sand off his feet. As he did so, Bob pondered his life and all of his unfulfilled dreams and potential, dating back from childhood.
Bob had spent a single season on ZOOM in the 1970s, before his voice changed. He and Cecil had both auditioned, and Bob had won over him, much like with Cecil's audition for Krusty's show years later. When Bob was the one to get on ZOOM, it was two weeks before he and Bob were back on speaking terms. Even then, it was only because their parents forced them to make up, as it was impossible to have a proper family conversation when Cecil was giving Bob the silent treatment. Bob couldn't help having more charisma than Cecil.
ZOOM was a good show for children, as let children send in their own ideas, encouraged its viewers to try a variety of new activities, and didn't treat them as stupid. Bob's favourite parts of the show had been the short plays.
Early on during Bob's time on Krusty's show, Bob had once suggested that Krusty let children send in their own ideas of what kind of acts Krusty should do, but that hadn't gone well. Most of the letters gave Krusty horrible new ideas of how to humiliate Bob. A very young Bart Simpson might have written at least one such letter, but Bob couldn't remember. Some of his ordeals on Krusty's show were so horrifically agonizing and degrading that he blocked them out. His desires to make quality youth programming had come to nothing.
Bob tugged at his greying hair and tried not to go into a meltdown. He'd recently gotten rid of all of his mirrors, as they only reminded him of how he'd grown old without much to show for his life. He was nothing but a failure as a brother, husband, father, performer, mayor, criminal...anything. He kept letting his madness, arrogance, and vengeful nature get the better of him.
Why did Bob have to devote so much of his life to revenge? Was it simply because it was easier to blame others for his failures, rather than focus on self-improvement? Bob just wanted to complete a goal and have it stick, with no-one to ruin it. Death stuck, and a little boy should have been easy to kill. Lenny Leonard had even pointed it out. Failing to kill Bart multiple times had made him a laughing stock of successful murderers in Springfield Penitentiary. Even if Bob had killed Bart, he would have reached a point of no return. He would either go back to prison or have to go on the run, forever worried about getting caught, and then he would find himself missing the thrill of chasing Bart. Vengeance, even the mere desire for it, could create a gaping hole in one's mind and soul that could never be filled.
He'd wasted his life obsessing and plotting over a goal he'd never been able to finish, even when he had the opportunity. He hadn't even been able to start a flower shop; his three life sentences had taken up so many years. He may have told his psychiatrist that evil wasn't a choice, but it was. He'd chosen to keep trying to hurt Bart and others. No-one had really forced him to do so. He could have just been a better man, and stayed free the first time he was paroled. Instead, his life had become something close to a modern Shakespearean tragedy.
Bob wasn't much of a believer in reincarnation, but he hoped he would reincarnate as a better person, someone who could be happy with what he had in life, and who made better life decisions.