(SPOILERS FOR SUNRISE ON THE REAPING!!! you’ve been warned, my friends)

louella mccoy was dead. that wasn’t very surprising, considering she was a young tribute of district twelve, selected for the 50th hunger games.

the problem was, she was dead before she even set foot in the arena.

long story short, a chariot accident during the parade of all the tributes resulted in her death. the capitol had the bright idea of composing a plan to cover up the incident, ridding of louella’s body and…well…

let’s just say haymitch was in for a surprise after his little “meeting” with president snow.

louella was back. alive and breathing. but her accent was slightly different. her facial structure wasn’t the same. something wasn’t right. this wasn’t the sweetheart haymitch knew and loved. this wasn’t louella at all.

…

when haymitch arrived back at the apartment with “louella”, he tried to introduce her to the others. much to their surprise.

she had a supposedly limited vocabulary, only able to say a few words and recite the line “my name is louella mccoy. i’m from district twelve” in response to everything.

wiress and mags didn’t know what to make of this girl, who was most definitely not their youngest tribute they were supposed to help mentor. wyatt was just baffled, wondering how on earth the capitol had obtained a faulty louella. maysilee made an off-handed comment along the lines of “that’s not sleeping in my room”, and you? you were just in shock. you were still grieving the girl, and now this…decoy was taking her place?

it was like the capitol was taunting you. your friend was dead and they’d made a fake to replace her just to avoid suspicion. your heart ached for the mccoy family. no doubt they’d know that something was wrong with their louella.

all of this was stupid. silly. hurtful and bleak, yes. but that’s just it.

all a show. all fake. all for entertainment.

all part of the capitol’s game.