Deadly Secrets

4. Worry (rewritten)

 "Alright then..." Dixie's voice sounded distant, but he quickly pulled himself out of his head. "Well, d'you wanna rock paper scissors for it?"

"Ha!" If I had been much closer to him, I would have been laughing in his face. "I've listened to a bunch of wannabe politicians yell at each other for the past few hours, if anyone's going to get a free pass to scream, it's me."

My brother's face bunched up into something reminiscent of a pout, but didn't argue. "Fair enough, I suppose."

All three of my daughters covered their ears when I rose from the couch. I moved to the center of the living room, cupping my hands around my mouth, and yelled at the top of my lungs, "FAMILY MEETING! EVERYONE GET DOWN HERE!" The sheer volume my voice reached left my throat feeling a little scratchy, but it had cleared up some of the churning emotions in my chest.

Footsteps shook the floors and rattled the walls, if I didn't know better I would have said someone let a herd of buffalo run loose around the large house. Soon, voices accompanied the thumping and I moved to stand in front of the powered-off television at the very front of the room. As soon as I turned back to face the room, humanoid-shaped blurs of color came rushing into the room. They dive-bombed the couch, trying to get a seat before there were none left. Hawaii squealed with laughter when South Dakota crashed into the cushion beside her and grinned up at her twin who was left to sit on the floor.

Once there was no more room on the three couches, states began finding spots on the floor or leaned on the backs of the furniture. Florida, however, did not change course when he ran into the room and decided to jump on the state-lined couch to my right. His siblings shouted in surprise, some trying to push him off, though eventually they all accepted their fates as he refused to budge, lying across all of their laps. I caught his eye and raised an eyebrow at his antics, but he simply shrugged and folded his hands behind his head.

I shook my head, but continued on, "Alright everyone," the chatter and shifting died down as I continued. "At the world meeting I just attended, UN released some information that has everyone worried."

"Tea an' crumpets kicked the bucket!" Rhode Island shouted out, throwing his arms up in mock glee, nearly smacking Oklahoma in the process. The older states cheered with him, while the younger ones laughed along. Dixie gave a hearty guffaw as well, earning a withering glare from me.

"Quiet!" I shouted, breaking through the chaos that had erupted. The room quickly calmed from its burst of energy, fading smiles decorating the faces of my states. "A new anti-government group has emerged. They call themselves Phobos and they are somehow aware of the existence of personifications."

Those two sentences were enough to conjure up a complete silence, even Dixie looked utterly gobsmacked. At least they weren't freaking out–actually, correction, they aren't freaking out on the outside. I could see that some of my children were beginning to panic, the ever increasing visible portion of their eyes being their main tell.

"Now," I continued, keeping my tone more calm now that I didn't have to shout over my states. "So far they have been going after us instead of our governments–but don't worry!" I quickly added, raising my hands in a placating manner once I heard some of my younger states suck in panicky gasps. The last thing I want right now is for someone to have a panic attack. Lowering my voice, I continued speaking in the most soothing tone I could manage, "The only people who know about y'all are your cousins and your Uncle Canada, and even they don't know exactly where we are, so we'll be perfectly fine." Another look around the room told me that not everyone was visibly calm, but the little reminder I gave them seemed to have helped. Dropping my hands back down to my sides, I resumed speaking with a gentle kind of authority defining my tone. "Regardless, y'all will have to stick together from now on–kinda like a 'buddy system'. All of ya' will stick with one of the other states yer sharin' a room with, and they will be your partner until this whole thing is over.