It was a beautiful, sunny day in Springfield, and Homer was out mowing his lawn, keeping an eye out for Flanders. The last thing he'd wanted was for Flanders to pop up behind the fence and start a conversation.
Personally, he wanted to have this time alone without his annoying neighbor bothering him, and almost every day Ned bothered him, especially while he was relaxing in his hammock.
Suddenly, as he continued mowing the lawn, he felt a chill run down his spine.
Don't worry Homer, it's just the wind. Homer thought to himself, pushing on with mowing the yard as he began to feel uneasy, Nothing scary is going to happen...
Suddenly he changed his mind as he then felt as if something - or someone - was watching him, so he turned around as he let go of the lawnmower, allowing it to keep going without him.
"W-Who's there?!" He asked, sounding a bit frightened.
No reply.
Homer then took a deep breath to try to get rid of the tension before shaking his head and turning back to the lawnmower, which was a few steps away from him. He caught up to it and continued working.
A few minutes passed by, however, and Homer was beginning to see out of the corner of his eye the color clothes he wears, his uneasiness building.
I'm just seeing things. Homer thought in an attempt to calm himself down, No one in this neighborhood wears the same clothes as me, so I must be!
Just then, an image of his Tracey Ullman counterpart flashed right in front of his eyes (it had left as quickly as it came), causing his heart to almost jump out of his chest and a scream to escape his lips. His breathing deepened as he clutched his chest with his right hand, the sun being covered with dark gray clouds.
Okay, maybe I'm not seeing anything, but this isn't real. He tried to convince himself in his thoughts, It can't be, right?!
Just as he had thought that, he heard a clap of thunder and almost had a heart attack, now breathing deeper than he'd ever done as the adrenaline rushed through his body.
Good thing that was just-
Another clap of thunder occurred, interrupting his thoughts, as his Tracey Ullman counterpart appeared (this time a little closer to Homer) and left as the sound of the thunder did.
Homer couldn't take it anymore and he quickly ran towards the house screaming, quickly opening the front door before rushing in and immediately slamming it behind him.
"Homie?" He heard Marge ask from the kitchen, seeing her run out of it after saying his name.
Homer had his back to the door, both his arms out to his sides as if trying to keep people from exiting, his chest heaving with every breath.
"Marge..." He began to say between frightened breaths, "He... He's out there!"
"Who's out there?" Marge asked, confused, "Flanders?"
"No..." Homer said, still trying to catch his breath, "The... The T-Tracey Ullman..."
"Homer calm down!" Marge said, interrupting him, "Take a deep breath and tell me what's wrong."
Homer complied, and took as long a deep breath as he could before letting it out.
"The Tracey Ullman version of me is out there!!" Homer then shouted, the fear evident in his voice.
"Your Tracey Ullman counterpart is out there?!" Marge asked, almost not believing her husband. Homer just nodded, fear in his eyes.
"Let me go out there and see..." Marge said, walking towards the door as Homer continued to block it, refusing to move.
"I can't let you!" Homer cried, "What if he hurts you?"
"What are you saying?" Marge asked, slightly confused by Homer's worried question, "If he's out there, you came in okay!"
"But what if he wants to hurt the ones closest to me?" Homer asked, sounding as if he was about to cry, tears already welling up in his eyes.
"Then he'd try to hurt me." Marge said before trying to push him out of the way, "Now let me go out there so I can see him!"
As Marge was trying to push Homer out of the way, he wouldn't budge due to being too heavy for her to forcefully move.
"But Marge..." Homer whined, giving her the puppy dog look.
"Fine, I'll just go through the back door." Marge said as she stopped trying to push him before turning around and walking to the back door angrily.
Quickly, Homer ran as fast as he could to the back door, but before he could reach it he tripped on something and fell face first on the ground before looking up at the back door and giving up.
"Fine, but if he hurts you, don't come crying to me." Homer said, tears filling his eyes.
Marge looked at him, and seeing the hurt and fear in his eyes wanted to go up to him and softly tell him that she was going to be okay, but she didn't want him to try and stop her from going outside.
She looked towards the back door, placed her hand on the doorknob and, taking a deep breath, she opened the door.
Homer now sat with his back against the wall, his arms on his knees and his head down as he sobbed into them.
"Alright, my husband says his Tracey Ullman counterpart is out here." Marge said with her hands on her hips, "So I'd like for you to show yourself if this is true!"
Suddenly, lightning flashed in the sky, but nothing happened.
What the hell?! Homer thought as he watched, his eyes stinging from the cold air that was now blowing into the house and the tears he had cried, But...he... He was out there!
"See Homie?" Marge asked, her voice now soft which confused Homer, "There's nothing to worry about."
As she finished however, more thunder flashed, and Tracey Ullman Homer appeared directly behind her, causing Homer to scream, "HE'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!" and curl up into a shaking ball as he now sat with his arms wrapped around his knees, rocking back and forth from nervousness and fear.
But his counterpart once again disappeared as soon as the thunder stopped and as Marge turned around she didn't see who Homer was talking about.
"Homer, you're going crazy." Marge said, her hands once again on her hips, "Do you need me to go and get a bat for if I need to defend myself again?"
"N-No!" Homer cried, pointing behind Marge with his finger, "He appears whenever the" – thunder struck again and this time Homer's older counterpart was in the house but just out of Marge's view – "THUNDER STRIKES!!"
By now Homer was just a shaking mess on the floor, now lying on the floor with his arms still wrapped around his knees, looking frightened.
Shutting the back door, Marge said, "Homer, I'm not going to play these games! No one's out there!"
Afraid, Homer whispered, "He's in the house..."
"Homer!!" Marge shouted, getting tired of her husband's games, "If you don't stop this instant..."
Suddenly they both heard Homer's old voice (from Season 1 and half of Season 2) say, "You look like you need a frosty chocolate-"
"NO I DON'T!!" Homer screamed interrupting his counterpart, now paranoid as he got up quickly and ran up the stairs as fast as he could before rushing into his room and slamming the door behind him, his chest again heaving as he tried to catch his breath.
Man, I've gotta stop running... Homer thought, placing his hand over his chest, But not as long as he's in the house!
A few minutes later, his Tracey Ullman self appeared in the room, floating at the end of his bed as the real Homer sat with his back against the wall. Homer shook, trying to take short breaths to calm himself down.
"W-What do you want?!" Homer asked, utterly terrified.
Suddenly a knock on the door caused the spirit to vanish into thin air.
"W-Who is it?" Homer called, trying to keep his voice from shaking.
"It's me, Marge!" His wife's voice replied, coming from behind the door, "Can I come in?"
"Y-Yeah, come in!" Homer said, still shaken by his counterpart's appearance.
As Marge opened the door and walked in she said, "I was thinking about what you said and I believe you. Before you ran up here, I heard the ghostly voice of your other counterpart."
"Oh yeah?" Homer asked, trying to make sure his wife wasn't going to tease or make fun of him, "What did it say?"
"I believe he was going to say something about frosty chocolate milkshakes before you cut him off..." Marge explained with a shrug.
So she wasn't going to tease him after all.
"Well what are we going to do?" Homer asked, unsure of what they should do about the ghost of his former self.
"Well he seems to be gone now so I suppose I could go downstairs and think of something..." Marge pondered, heading for the bedroom door.
"D-Don't go Marge!" Homer begged her, folding his hands together in front of his chest, "Please!! He might hurt me!" Marge sighed of annoyance.
"Homer, he hasn't hurt you yet, nor has he tried to." Marge said, looking at her husband, "So until something bad happens, don't worry about it. Just come get me if he tries to hurt you, okay?"
"O-Okay..." Homer said, still feeling scared so he took a deep breath to try and calm down. Seeing this, Marge turned around and walked out of the room.
After she'd left the room and fully gone downstairs, the apparition of Homer's former self once again suddenly appeared as Homer screamed, trying to back himself further into the wall despite the fact he couldn't go any further.
"Jeez, I was going to ask if you wanted a frosty chocolate milkshake." Homer's ghostly counterpart said as he pulled a chocolate milkshake from behind his back and held it out to Homer.
"Well, don't mind if I do!" Homer said happily as he wiggled his fingers before taking the milkshake from his counterpart and beginning to drink it, a smile on his face.
A/N: Okay this idea wasn't originally going to be like this, and his Tracey Ullman counterpart was going to be alive and I think cloned from him (like in the Treehouse of Horror episode where his hammock creates clones of himself), but I decided to go with this idea since I saw the Treehouse of Horror (about a week ago) where the Tracey Ullman Simpsons haunt the modern-day Simpsons.
A reference I threw in was of Treehouse of Horror V, where Homer goes crazy due to having no beer and no TV, the segment being called The Shinning (the title being a parody of The Shining). If you didn't catch my reference in the story, Marge asks him if she needs to go and get a bat to defend herself again.
So that's it for this one! I hope you enjoyed! And if you read this before bed, I'm sorry for any nightmares!