Fourth and final part of the short story. Thanks for reading.
"You don't know, do you, Bart?" Adult-Bart asked. "You're in a coma," he continued.
Bart could only stare back in disbelief. He was in a coma!? Was this a coma dream!? Well, that would explain why there were so many versions of him and that he could hear a heartbeat that seemed to match his own. Bart swallowed a lump in his throat as he slowly slid his hands off the table. "Wh-what happened?…" he asked.
Adult-Bart's face did not falter as the other Barts were sharing the same expression as their adult counterpart, although some were softer than others, as they continued to stare at Bart. "Man, you don't know anything!" said Blue-Shirt Bart. "You wanted to try to jump over the Springfield Gorge again, wanting to relive the good old days!" He continued. "….. And, well, if you couldn't guess yet, you didn't make it…" added 3D-Bart.
Bart's eyes widened in horror. He remembered now! Yes! He wanted to jump the Springfield Gorge again. There were kids on both sides of the gorge, ready to watch. Just like last time, his father tried to object and prevent him from jumping. Hell, his whole family was there trying to stop. However, this time.. Homer didn't make it in time, and Bart jumped the gorge. He thought he was going to make it, but halfway through.. he fell. The last thing he heard was his own screams as well as everyone's from above. The last thing he remembered wasn't sitting with his family watching TV, it was falling off of Springfield Gorge!
"It's already been said, but you wanted to relive your golden years. You wanted to relive the days where you used to rule the world," said Bartman. Bart remembered when he was America's Bad Boy. He remembered Bartmania, hell, even Do The Bartman! Oh how he missed that popularity "We know you miss the old days, we all do. But you can't relive it. The past is in the past," said RatBoy. "Which is unfortunately something you can't accept," hissed Vampire-Bart.
Bart sputtered with words in his mouth. "I…I…n-no! That can't be! I-I don't want to be in my current hell anymore! I…… I want to be America's Bad Boy again……. I wish it was those golden years again!……" "Nevermore," quoth Raven-Bart. Bart looked at his raven counterpart a little confused, unsure of what he or the phrase meant. "He means never again," said Blue-Shirt Bart. "We can nevermore be America's Bad Boy. We can nevermore be in our golden years. We can never hold on to what we have or what we love forever, it's a part of life," Adult-Bart said before looking around him and the disappointment in his face had vanished completely in replace of sadness. "And it looks like yours is almost up," he continued.
Bart was initially confused at first but then he looked at the walls and saw in horror that they were melting into black goo-like tar. The beating stared to increase rapidly as he started to panic. He got up from his chair but couldn't move after that. His legs felt like jelly. "MAKE IT STOP!!" Bart pleaded. All of the Barts' faces were now filled with guilt and pity. "We're sorry, but there's nothing we can do. We're just figments of your past…" BlueShirt-Bart said. "And your future.." Adult-Bart added.
Despite his horror, Bart raised a brow. "Future?.." he asked. He would never receive an answer as the Barts began to melt into black tar, matching the surroundings. Bart's face became even more horrified as the different versions of himself that he befriended were now gone…
Bart was finally able to muster the strength in his legs to start moving. He had to get out of here. He started to try and run away.. however.. a familiar face had stopped him. It was that mushy version of himself from earlier named Brt. He was just standing there looking at Bart (although Brt's eyes weren't making contact with his). Again, Bart was frozen in fear, unable to move. The beating increased. Bet started to move closer until he was less than an inch away from Bart's face. The boy still couldn't move as the area surrounding him became tar.
With those bizarre wall-eyed..well, eyes, Brt opened his mouth and spoke "I̷̜̲͉̘̓̐̕ͅ'̸̡̻̫̩̤̼͋̈́m̶͓̋ ̵͙͇͝s̴̼͔̮̻̦̻̏̇̑̐̉̑̕o̷̢͇̹̓͌͗̽͒̐͘r̸̘̖͍̜̞̀̉r̶̡̼̲̥̲̄̂̏̂̋͛͝ỳ̷̖̞̲͍̝͗͂̉ͅ.̷̻͉͍̹͍̤̂̌.̸͓͖̒ ̸̝͗̓̿͐̈́̀͠m̸͉̟̲̽a̵͖̖̝̦͛̒͘ñ̴̨͔͔͔͚̒͊̕̕" before, with his mushy body, forced himself into Bart's mouth. GAHH!! WHAT THE HELL!!!???? Bart thought as he panicked, being suffocated by his mushy self. Bart fell on his back into the tarry ground, he was now unable to move. Bart struggled as the tar began to submerge his body! Before he knew it, he was completely engulfed in darkness.
Bart no longer felt like he was suffocating because Brt had completely entered his body from the mouth and was no longer blocking the lungs. It was extremely bizarre, it didn't even feel like Brt was in his body. What the hell was that even? Oh well, at least he wasn't suffocating anymore. His heart's rapid beating started to slow down as Bart was no longer panicking from the lack of air. In complete darkness, feeling like he was underwater, Bart was left alone with his thoughts.
They're right. They're all right. Bart began to think. I've been missing the past so much that I wanted to relive it.. and it lead me here…. You know, I think so many people miss the past so much that they want to relive it.. but they can't. They can't seem to accept that the past is in the past and they need to look forward into the future. We can't have what we had in the past.. well.. I guess it depends on what you had.. anyway, I know now that I can never have those golden years back, but I can always remember them….. hey, I can't believe that came from me! I think my family would be proud-oh right… Bart pondered with his mind. Bart sighed, he knew his time was almost up, and he couldn't do anything about it.
Well… it was nice while it lasted, he thought one last time as he closed his eyes, accepting his fate.
And the beating, that had been there the entire time…
had stopped.
The End