Hello everyone, I'm here with a short story that will be around 3-5 chapters long. I'm writing it so it can leave my head and so that it can help motivate me write more.
At first, Bart felt nothing but darkness. He felt like he was in a void of nothingness. His sight was no better as all he could he was pitch darkness. Bart would've thought that his eyes were closed… but he could tell they weren't as he felt that his eyes were wide open. He couldn't hear anything either, well, with the exception of his soft breathing and the steady beat of his heart. Wait.. he could hear his own heartbeat? That can't be possible! What the hell is going on? How did Bart even get here? Where was he even? He couldn't recall what happened or how he got here. Well, the last thing he remembered was that he was sitting with his family watching TV and then……….. that's it. What the hell happened!?
Bart tried his best to remember what had happened….. and tried….. and tried….. still nothing. What happened!? Did he pass out? Was he sucked into the TV? Was this Limbo, Purgatory or whatever the hell you called it? Was….. was he dead? Was this Heaven? Hell? Did those places not even exist and this was the true afterlife? After what felt like an eternity of doing nothing, Bart decided to move his limbs. They felt like there was no blood circulation, adding to the fact that it now began to feel like he was underwater. Starting to get confused, Bart inhaled a deep breath… but instead of air that filled his lungs, it was an unidentifiable liquid. Bart heard his own heartbeat that surrounded him begin to quicken as the boy panicked with the liquid in his lungs.
Suddenly, without warning, Bart felt himself be forcefully pushed around as a rush of what felt like water, hit him.Panicking even more, Bart started to flail his limbs around, desperately trying to swim in the pitch darkness. He tried to scream but the liquid flooded into his mouth. His heart was now thumping dangerously quick. He could hear the thundering heartbeat surrounding him to the point he was getting a headache.
Dear god, everything ached. His lungs felt like they were going to explode. So did his heart. He wanted this to stop, and figure out what the hell is going on!? He prayed to both God and Satan to make this entire ordeal stop and go back to things the way they were! After agonizingly long thrashes of being dragged around submerged for what felt like thousands of years.. it stopped…
Bart no longer felt like he was underwater, his lungs felt like they were going to explode so he instinctively inhaled a deep breath. To both his and his lungs' relief, it was air. Bart proceeded to breathe in as much oxygen as his lungs could, which were now being soothed and satisfied with access to air once more. Once his breathing was steady again, he opened his eyes saw himself gazing at a bright blue sky, rather straining at first because all he saw was pitch darkness for quite a long time. Bart was able to get his eyes adjusted to the new light and sat up to scan his surroundings. He was in a neighborhood. It looked very similar to his own.. but it looked… off…
Bart had no idea how to describe it, everything looked like it was drawn….. crudely. It looked like everything around him lacked many details. The trees all looked the same. Even the houses looked the same, with the exception of them being different colors. Bart stood up and continued to look around this brand new location, he noticed that he was standing on a sidewalk that seemed to go on forever. He saw cars parked in their driveway, but there was absolutely no one anywhere. No cars passed by him, not a single one. It was like this neighborhood was deserted. The place was silent, dead silent. Except for the rustling of trees in the calm wind, a few bird chirps here and there, and his own heartbeat once again. What the? AGAIN!? Bart thought. However, unlike when he was in the void, the heartbeat sounded like it was a part of this neighborhood. The thumping was much more quiet and in the background, it was at a steady pace as well. Okay, this is weird as hell, Bart thought. He started to contemplate on what to do- "OUTTA THE WAY, MAN!!" a strange yet familiar voice called out to Bart, startling the boy. "Huh!?" Bart said suddenly as he turned around to where the voice came from. He didn't even get a second to react until the source of the voice collided into Bart in a crash, knocking them both to the ground.
Both people groaned in pain from the collusion. "I said out of the way, man!" the voice spat. "Well, you shouldn't have said it at the last minute!" Bart spat back, rubbing his head. When looked up to see the person who crashed into him, his eyes widened in shock and his hand fell from his head. It was himself! Well, he looked a little different from himself. This other Bart's face looked a little different from his own, his spiky hair was taller, and he was wearing a blue shirt instead of red. The Bart wearing the Blue Shirt looked at him and he as well stared back wide-eyed. "You look just like me!" They both said at the same time. "I'm Bart Simpson… I'm going to assume that's your name as well," Bart said to BlueShirt-Bart, to which he nodded, very confused. BlueShirt-Bart eyed his counterpart, in confusion. "How the hell did you get here?" He asked. "To be honest….." Bart started as he looked around him and then back at his blue-shirted counterpart. "I don't know…. I think I'm lost," he continued. BlueShirt-Bart furrowed his brows and scratched his chin as if to think. He suddenly snapped his fingers in recollection. "Hey, why dontcha stay at my place for a while?" BlueShirt-Bart offers. Bart raised his brows. "Really? What about your family?" he asked. "Pfft! My family ain't home! Hell, it's just me in this whole neighborhood!" BlueShirt-Bart replied.
"Huh!? You're here all by yourself!?" Bart said, shocked. "Wh-what happened!?" BlueShirt-Bart only shrugged in response. "This place has been empty as long as I can remember. C'mon, I'll show ya to my house." BlueShirt-Bart said as he grabbed his skateboard and walked away, his footsteps making a tch-tch-tch-tch like sound that sounded oddly familiar to Bart. When he decided to follow his blue-shirted counterpart, he remembered about the strange steady beating he heard surrounding him. It was still there. "Hey, do you hear that?" Bart asked. His blue-shirted counterpart stopped and looked at him, "Hear what?" He asked. "That beating sound, it sounds like it's everywhere," Bart answered. BlueShirt-Bart stopped to hear it. "Oh that, yeah. I almost forgot that was there. No idea what it is but I'd just ignore it, that's what I've been doing. C'mon, let's go," he answered and he continued to walk away. Bart following hesitantly. Just what was that beating that sounded an awful lot like a heart?
Minutes have passed since Bart met this alternate version of himself. He was currently walking behind this blue-shirted counterpart to his house, the boy's shoes making that same tch-tch-tch sound with each step he walked. That noise sounded so familiar to Bart, but why? Bart didn't notice that BlueShirt-Bart had stopped and he walked right into his counterpart. "Hey! Watch it, man!" BlueShirt-Bart sneered and he looked forward to his destination. "We're here," he continued. Bart looked at their destination and saw that it confirmed his suspicion, it looked almost identical to his own house! Well, with the exception of the house looking…. Less detailed than his own home. BlueShirt-Bart suddenly snapped his fingers in front of Bart's face to get his attention. "Hey, red-shirt! What's with the house staring?" He asked. Bart was snapped out of his supposed trance. "Oh! Uhh…… it's just it looks almost like my house but…… less detailed," Bart answered. BlueShirt-Bart stared at his red-shirted counterpart for a moment before simply replying, "Okay, weirdo" he walked to his house's entrance before opening the door. He looked back and saw Bart still standing there. "Hey! You coming or not!?" he shouted to him. Bart jumped at the shout and ran towards the door. He hesitated for a moment before stepping through the door and entered the house. Not seeming to notice that the beating had slowly become faster.