Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games

Every reaping has once scene that stands out: the pregnant girlfriend begging her lover not to go, the shrieking mother grasping at her only child as the peacekeepers hold her back, the tribute who is leaving behind nine or ten brothers and sisters, there's always something to tug on the heartstrings of the Capitol audience. This year's big heartbreaker was the girl who left behind her identical twin in District 8. They had been standing in line with the other 13 year-olds dressed in matching blue dresses , holding hands and praying that neither of their names were called. They were perfect copies of one another same brown hair, same sprinkling of freckles across the nose, same nervous habit of biting their bottom lip. When Marcus Whittleby, District 8's flamboyant escort called out the name "Narina Davis" both little girls jumped and turned white. Then they looked at each other with huge, terrified eyes, kissed each other on the cheek, and then one slowly made her way to the stage. The commentators were immediately chattering away about how heartbreaking it must be to leave a twin behind and whether or not it was true that whatever one twin felt the other felt as well. It was true in the case of these two girls; they were both feeling fear and pain.

When little Narina arrived in the Capitol the reporters were all over her, Cecelia and old Woof had to literally wrap themselves around the girl to get her into the training center while peace keepers held back the crowd. People were fascinated with the kid, the footage of her and her sister embracing was being played over and over on the television and she would no doubt gain sponsors because of it. Sometimes the fact that the Capitol falls in love with a tribute is due to the tribute's personality. Sometimes it's because their stylist comes up with an amazing new concept for the tribute parade and interviews. Sometimes it's just pure luck like it was with Narina, she just happened to be a twin and for whatever reason the Capitol audience found the concept to be intriguing. They found it to be so wonderful in fact that at the tribute parade many of the audience members dressed themselves as twins, wearing the same clothing and hairstyle as whoever they brought with them. Sometimes the Capitol gets just a little ridiculous with their obsessions, but it's my job to play them up, not mock them no matter what I really think.

The night of the interviews little Narina took the stage to thunderous applause. She looked very sweet in an emerald green dress that brought out her eyes and sat biting her bottom lip the way she had at the reaping. I went through the usual questions about how she liked the Capitol and how she got an eight in training. Finally I asked about her sister and what they said to each other before Narina boarded the train to the Capitol. She got a faraway look in her eyes and didn't answer, obviously lost in her memories of her twin. "Narina," I said jokingly, "are you with us?"

"No, I'm Karina," she said absently and then clamped her hand over her mouth. She looked at me with terrified eyes that were begging me to help her out in some way. I looked up at the luxury box where President Snow was sitting, smiling the whole time at the audience as if I hadn't heard the poor girl next to me just make the biggest mistake of her life. Snow crossed his arms and glared down at me. He didn't want me to play it off, I couldn't help her, god sometimes I hate my job. I didn't want to throw this poor kid to the wolves. When I looked back at the girl she could tell that it was all over, that her secret was out.

"What? Did you say that you're Karina? Isn't that your sister's name? I thought you were Narina!" I said with a fake smile plastered across my face.

"I, well, I, we switched places!" she blurted. "Narina's too delicate, too sweet, the games would destroy her, even if she lived," the little girl whispered. "So I took her place. Nobody knew."

How was I going to save this kid? Maybe…"That was very brave Karina, sacrificing yourself for your sister, knowing that she wasn't tribute material and hoping that you might be the one to bring honor to your district." Karina just nodded wide eyed. I turned to the audience who looked stunned. "What do you think folks, isn't that one of the bravest things you've ever heard of? What could be better than making sure the best tribute made it into the games, the one most likely to bring home the crown?" People in the audience looked at each other and slowly to my relief began to applaud and then cheer. The buzzer sounded in my earpiece. I helped Karina to her feet and held up her arm triumphantly "Karina Davis everyone!" The audience continued to cheer wildly but when I looked offstage I saw Cecelia and Woof surrounded by four peace keepers waiting to take Karina back upstairs.

The next day Claudius Templesmith and I sat in our booth above the control room doing the commentary as the games began. I tried to talk about anything but Karina, so much attention had already made her a target; not just of the Careers but of the game makers as well. Claudius however seemed determined to chatter on and on about her. The tributes were standing on their platforms and the countdown was almost over 12, 11, 10 BOOM! An explosion rocked the arena and tributes scrambled to stay on their metal plates and not fall victim to the mines that surrounded them. When the smoke cleared and the buzzer sounded Claudius and I, as well as the rest of Panem were finally able to see what happened; but in my heart I already knew. The mines around Karina's plate had been detonated. She died before the games had even begun. The game makers would say that she stepped off of her plate but she didn't. The Capitol television audience would never know, the camera feed had been showing the burly boy from District 1 when the explosion happened. The district audiences however had been treated to a different view, the live feed to the districts showed the explosion in all of its gory horror. Claudius and I had a wall of monitors in front of us that showed all of the camera feed from the cornucopia so we also knew that Karina hadn't stepped off of her plate and blown herself sky high. The Capitol had disposed of her, effectively showing the districts what punishment awaited those who tried to deceive them. When the bloodbath was over and the deaths had been tallied Claudius and I received a memo from the newsroom, an interesting tidbit for the viewers. Karina's twin, the real Narina Davis had also tragically died today. There was a gas leak in her house and sadly it exploded minutes after the explosion in the arena.