Joey scrambled on hands and knees to the fallen victim. Placing his hands on the chest he rocked the person trying to wake him up.

"Spider-man, Spider-man, are you ok? Wake up, Spider-man!"

He shook the hero harder, screaming, "Spider-man, I didn't mean too. Please get up!"

He sat back and looked at the blood on his hands.

When Tony saw that, he yelled, "I'm outa here!"

"No wait! You gotta help me, Tony."

"Uh,uh……brother or no, the cops are gonna arrest you. You killed a guy. You killed Spider-man. I don't want no part of that."

Joey looked at the fallen hero, the blood and his departing friend. Panic overflowed within him and he got up and ran as well. He ran down the stairs. He ran down the block. He ran blindly until he ended up in the alley where the old car once sat. The junk car that he was hiding inside the day he met the super-hero. It was now an empty lot, that heap long ago hauled away. He leaned against the brick wall and slid down into a sitting position. Still holding his sticky hands in front of him, he cried. He felt more helpless now than even back in the days when he thought Vinny was literally going to kill him.

When his eyes were swollen and cried out, he finally realized that he needed to remove the dried blood from his hands. Deeper into the alley was a puddle of heaven-knows what kind of liquid, but he'd use anything to remove the blood. He stuck his hands into the black fluid and used the dirt at the bottom of the puddle to scrub his hands. He squished the dirt, sand and glass until his hands were raw.

Satisfied that the visible signs of blood were gone, he looked around to find real water. He knew a couple of blocks away was a park with a drinking fountain. That would have to do. Reaching the fountain out of breath from running, he looked around and waited until he was not being watched before proceeding to rinse off the muck. He stopped several times when he thought people were paying attention to him.

Hands now stuffed into his pockets, he wandered aimlessly around. Time evaporated. Streets disappeared. The world fogged in around him. His thoughts were mired in the sludge of worry. What's going to happen now? He contemplated where he might end up if they find and arrest him. He'd be lucky if he just got 'juvy', but supposed they thought he was old enough to be tried as an adult? He could get the chair. Then he started to agonize about the city without its super-hero, all those people that would have been saved if Spider-man were still alive. And what about his family. He knows Spidey has family. Somewhere. And somewhere they will be sitting waiting for him never to return.

He found himself back at the alley once more. He turned to face the building that he had seen Spider-man emerge from so many times. The window was still open awaiting the return of the stealthy red and blue clad figure. Joey wanted to go up to the apartment where he had met his idol face to face. But he knew, deep in his heart, he knew that man was dead. Looking at the window, he wondered how long it would remain open. How long would it take for someone to realize that the occupant was gone? Forever.

He checked out the elongating shadows and reluctantly headed home. There was probably a mob scene there by now. Cops going over the murder scene. Reporters sticking microphones in everyone's face asking what happened, how'd it happen and did anyone see it. He hoped that the coroner had taken him away in the body bag already. He wasn't sure he could handle seeing that.

Back at his apartment building, everything was quiet. There was no commotion. It could already be all over and they are waiting for him upstairs. Maybe they won't know who did it. Maybe this was just a bad dream. Maybe he will wake up, all sweaty, his bed a jumbled mess, and it was all just a nightmare. Refusing to look up at the roof, he forced his feet to move, to walk inside and up the stairs to his apartment. When he entered, everything was quiet. There was no one waiting to arrest him, no one there to ask him questions. He simply found that dinner was just about ready.

"Hey, Joey, just in time. Go call your brother, will ya. Dinner's ready," his father said.

Half heartily, Joey yelled, "VINNY! DINNER!"

"Joey! I could have done that myself. I meant for you to go get him."

"Hey Joey." Vinny greeted, still in his uniform. Then turning to his step-father, "Hey, Pop, that smells good. I'm starved. What's for dinner?"

"You know I only know how to cook spaghetti. And I'm using your mother's sauce. She had some in the freezer."

"So,where is she tonight?"

"Oh she's got some charity thing going on. So you guys are stuck with the old man's cooking."

"Help me set the table, Shortstop," Vinny called to his sibling.

He looked at the solemn boy. Something was not right. He was usually a lot more talkative. And he had expected even more chatter tonight if Spider-man visited him like he said he would do. Maybe Spidey didn't find him after all.

The dinner table was quieter than normal and both men noticed how glum the youngster was.

"Pass the meatballs, Sport," Vinny called, then added, "Did you see Spider-man today?"

Joey's eyes widened, he fought hard to contain his fear, "No, why?"

"Well, I ran into him this morning. He said he was going to pay you a visit. I guess he didn't find you."

"Guess not."

Oh God, now they can connect me with being the last person Spider-man went to see. They'll hang me but good! Joey's mind was running away with him.

After more silence Vinny came right out and asked, "Somethin' wrong, kid?"

"Uh, no. Nuthin'"

"Well howcum, you're so quiet?"

"Um, I, um….saw a dead animal today. I didn't like it."

"What was it?"

"I dunno, it was all mangled up. Must've got run over by a million cars." Joey said as he continued to play with his dinner, then asked, "Can I go now?"

"You're not hungry? I slaved all afternoon over a hot stove," his father joked.

The boy just shook his head and left.

Joey sat on his bed, studying his hands. He caught sight of a bit of dried blood along the side his thumb nail and began to scrape it away. Then he noticed most of his nails were still dirty around the edges. He ran into the bathroom and using a fresh bar of soap and the only brush he could find, which was the hard bristled one for the tub. He scrubbed, and scrubbed and scrubbed. With half of the bar now used up, he finally stopped and rinsed his bright red hands. The blood was gone. He slipped back into his bedroom, closing the door.

He stared at his now raw hands. They still felt dirty and he rubbed them. They were too sore to wash anymore, but he could still feel the stickiness. It was driving him nuts. He went into his closet rummaging around. When he found the gloves he was looking for, he put them on. Although it was too hot to wear winter gloves now, it took his mind off the blood. The blood that was on his hands. Spider-man's blood.

He sat on his bed, picking at the threads covering his hands. His mind was blank at the moment. It wasn't functioning anymore. He couldn't think of what to do or who he could go to for help. He definitely couldn't go to his brother. He would have to arrest him. He's a cop and that's what cops do.

He was startled back to reality when there was a knock on his door.

"Can I come in?" Vinny called.

"Yeah."

Joey noticed that Vinny had changed into his civvies since dinner. The young man walked over and sat on the bed next to his brother. "Hmmmm, gloves in the middle of summer. What's wrong?"

"Nuthin'"

"I know something's wrong. Now give. It's not because Spider-man never found you, was it?"

He shook his head.

"What's with the gloves?"

Joey sat there trying to think of an excuse. "It keeps me from biting my nails."

"I didn't know you had a nail biting problem."

"See, it works."

They sat in silence for a while but Joey didn't budge. Vinny sat a while longer….hoping the silence would get uncomfortable enough for the boy to give in. But after several minutes, the older brother gave up and left, "You know you can talk to me anytime," he called as he walked out the door.

Joey knew that Vinny knew there was a problem. But, it wasn't going beyond that. Vinny could wonder all he wanted, ask all he wanted, but he'll never know find out.

About an hour later, Joey still having not moved, heard Vinny call out to his father, "Pop, have you seen my gun?" Joey's heart started pounding. The gun! Where'd he leave the gun! Did he leave it on the roof with the body? Oh no! When they find the gun, they'll trace it back to Vinny. And either he or his brother would get blamed for the murder. A shiver ran up Joey's spine. Oh no, it was too late now. The evidence was already piling up against him.

When Vinny walked into his room and asked, "Squirt, have you seen my gun?" Joey just crawled back on his bed, pushing up against the corner wall, wide-eyed.

There was no doubt left in Vinny's mind that something was terribly wrong. "It's the gun Joey, isn't it? Something happened with the gun. What? Did you take it?"

"I didn't mean for it to happen. It was an accident! He scared me and I dropped it." The floodgates had opened.

"You had my gun? Where? What happened? Tell me Joey." Vince said with forced calm.

"I just wanted to show Tony. That's all. It went off on its own. By accident! It was just an accident."

This was just the kind of thing Vinny had feared and thought he had hidden the gun well.

"Did someone get hurt? Did Tony get hurt? Where is he?" Vinny asked, getting worried.

Joey shook his head.

"What happened, Joey? You have to tell me!"

A whisper, more of a whimper, emanated from of Joeys' mouth, "I killed Spider-man."

Vinny stood there, staring at his white-faced terrified brother. "What?"

"I killed Spider-man."

As he held his fear and anger at bay, he knelt down on one knee next to the bed. "Joey, where is he? Where did you shoot Spider-man?"

Joey just pointed up to the ceiling.

"On the roof?"

Joey nodded.

"C'mon, show me."

Joey vehemently shook his head.

Vinny firmly but gently grasped Joey by the arms, "You have to show me, Joey. Let's go."

"I can't," he murmured.

Getting rougher than he wanted Vinny grabbed Joey by the arm yanking him off the bed, "C'mon, we're going up to the roof."

Joey unwillingly led the way, out of the apartment and up the several flights. With each step, his feet got heavier and heavier. But Vinny was right behind him, pushing him up. The access door creaked when it was opened and Joey hesitated going out. Turning away, he just pointed in the direction where the murder took place. But when Vinny asked, "Where?" Joey had to look.

The body was gone.