Struck by Lightning

21. Let It Go

Part 2: Eight years later

"Cut!" Ivo Rijks' loud but croaky voice sliced through the scene, making everyone jump. He took long strides across the room to the bed, clearing his throat and wringing his hands. "You are supposed to be heartbroken. A tiny bit of emotion please," he shouted in Dutch, pausing between each word for effect.

He shrugged off his leather jacket and dropped it on a chair while he waited for the perplexed actors to reposition themselves. A shrill ringtone caused them to jump. Ivo spun around, his blue eyes narrowed. Amanda pulled out her phone and silenced it.

"For fuck sake. Get off my set," Ivo barked at her in English.

"Yes sir," Amanda said with a fake salute and a smile. She disappeared out of the double doors of the studio, eager to return the call. Today was the day!

***

Many years had passed since Amanda left England and she had become truly settled in Amsterdam. She had come to terms with the fact that the pre-lightning strike version of her was gone for good, but was comfortable in her own skin again. She didn't have an army of adoring friends in her private life, nor a team of people following her orders in her professional life, but she no longer needed either.

She had something else; something that filled her soul and breathed life back into her. It turned out the Dutch loved her book and it was published in both English and Dutch, lining all the bookstores throughout the capital city and beyond.

Seeing her work on bookshelves always made her heart soar. Years after the launch she would still wander into stores and peruse the shelves to find her book, reminding herself that it was still there and it wasn't all a dream.

Publishing her book had been more than enough to begin with, but then RTL 4, the most watched TV network in the country, picked it up and wanted to turn it into a drama series. Amanda spent her days on the roof terrace of her city centre apartment writing the screenplay, looking out over the network of canals, parks and redbrick townhouses.

It was a place that had become her home as she gradually let go of the past.

Writing for a living suited her perfectly. On bad days when her symptoms overpowered her she could still write from her bed, on good days she could be out promoting her book - doing book signings, meeting fans, doing live readings - or spending time on the set of the TV show with the cast and crew. Amanda couldn't have chosen a more perfect outcome.

She now had enough money to afford to put an offer on a neglected bookstore just a stone's throw from her apartment. It was an amazing building with lots of different rooms sprouting from the main atrium which was already lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. It had a kitchen too so she planned to turn it into a café-cum-bookshop, right on the edge of Vondelpark.

She could already see it clearly - the park attracted millions of visitors a year and they would all want to swing by her shop. There would be the regulars, of course, who never made a single purchase but who would pop in every week, the students who would bring their iPads or MacBooks so they could study in the cafe area in between scouring the shelves for books, the tourists who would be visiting Vondelpark but would have heard of this amazing bookstore that mustn't be missed, the parents with their kids who would mess up the children's section searching for the latest stories, the uncool kids who loved to read, the cool kids who went to drink iced tea, the local professionals who would pop in during their lunch break. Her imagined customer base was endless.

One Thursday afternoon after a visit to her accountant, she eagerly put her offer in and waited for the news.

Then, on set of her TV show the following day, the call arrived, testing the director's already fragile mood. Outside the studio the caller tried again.