The Book She is Reading

As you thought about what to change in the past, you looked down at the book your sister was reading. You didn’t recognize what book this was, which meant that Lara probably got it recently.

This gave you an idea. You were going to change the book she was reading to one more to your liking, except that you would do so in a way so that she had always been reading the new book instead of the old one. Using your omniscience, you looked back at the moment when Lara bought the book.

It had been a little over a month ago, during one of Lara’s visits to the mall with her friends. They were leaving the hairdresser when one of her friends, Sasha, said that she wanted to buy a new book by her favorite author that had just come out. After entering the bookstore, Lara browsed around while Sasha searched for her book, thinking about how she didn’t read as much as she used to, especially since she had started dating her last ex-boyfriend. Now angry from thinking about how that asshole made her give up something she liked, Lara had asked an employer of the store to recommend her something to get back in the habit. Her recommendation had been this book, Stars Without Light.

You laughed. This was an easy one. With a confident smile on your face, you changed the book the employer had recommended to Lara with one you simply wished into existence.

You would have said that it happened in the blink of an eye, but you didn’t have any eyes to blink with. Instead, it just happened. Lara was still sitting on her bed with her back against the wall, now reading the book you wanted her to, but everything else was different. She was practically naked, to begin with. The only thing she was wearing was a black sports bra and a matching thong, both showing her gorgeous body for you to see. Her blonde hair was let loose instead of the usual ponytail she had when around the house, and her blue eyes were fiercely focused on the pages of the book. You didn’t need omniscience to know she was reading something dirty; the redness of her face gave her away.

You got curious about what the new book was about and decided to use your powers to find out.

The new book was called A Princess’ Nightly Tale and told the story of a princess in 15th-century England who refuses to marry any of the many noblemen who ask for her hand, having already secretly married her younger brother on his 18th birthday, and their nightly meetings where they consummate their love for each other. Right now, Lara was readying a chapter about the princess and her brother visiting a forest for one of their secret rendezvous, passionately pleasuring each other bodies with the moon as their only witness.

The book was actually pretty good, having been at the top of the New York Times bestseller list for twenty weeks straight. That was why the bookstore employee recommended it to Lara. This surprised you since you hadn’t wished for the book to be popular, just for the employee to recommend it to her. Perhaps history corrected itself in order for it to make sense? That would be something to keep in mind.

You pushed those thoughts to the back of your mind. For now, you were far more interested in how this book had affected your sister.

Looking into your new memories, you remembered that Lara had been acting weird for the last month. She had been giving you sideway glances when she thought you weren’t looking. During the nights that your family watched movies together, Lara had made sure to sit next to you, often taking your hand or wrapping you both inside a blanket if she thought the movie got too scary for you. One time, after you mentioned a girl from one of your classes asking you to tutor her, Lara had treated you pretty coldly for the rest of the night and you had no idea why.

You smiled. Now you were going for the kill.