Wheelchair
Kris messed up his leg after a totally lame accident where he missed grabbing the railing going down some stairs backstage on tour and took a header. The last thing he expected was to be treated differently by some of his friends. But that's what ended up happening. Because when they saw the wheelchair, Kris stopped being Kris and started being someone to fuss over, or worse, just a chair.
Danny reached things for him that Kris could reach for himself, with a little extra time or a hand. Megan pushed the chair without asking, and started talking to Kris like he was either very young, or very stupid. Anoop completely ignored him.
Kris wondered how he was supposed to fare in subsequent days if, in the first 24 hours, he was treated like an invalid.
He tried to be patient as Megan diligently steered the wheelchair into the venue. "Okay. Will you be okay if I leave you here?" she asked, towering over him in that maddening way she had.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Kris managed.
It was bad enough that his leg was so painful he could barely stand on it, but the rest of his body was bruised in totally random places too, so sleeping last night had been impossible. Adam had been good about getting ice packs and stuff, but he eventually dropped off sometime after the sun came up, and Kris couldn't blame him.
He had no idea how he was going to get onstage or do any of his normal show stuff. Actually, the doctors had advised him to take a week off and not perform, but Kris refused. If he was sick and all contagious or at death's door, that was one thing. He could deal with a little pain.
They had already decided to cut his set to one number. So Kris chose Heartless because it was everyone's favorite from the show. He figured if they could only hear one song, that was probably the one they would want to hear. He knew they were going to get a chair for him onstage and mic without a stand. But as far as getting place to place and playing guitar with a sprained wrist, Kris had no idea how he would manage it.
"Here, Jack said to make sure you had something to eat," Michael said, setting a paper plate on Kris' lap.
Kris knew Michael was just trying to help, but these kinds of accomadations were getting old fast.
"Thanks," he said.
As the show started, Kris found himself crabbier. How was he supposed to go onstage all bruised up like this? It looked like someone attacked him. But he took a deep breath and reminded himself that by now, everyone probably knew what happened. His only comfort was that the fall hadn't happened during a show, so that video wasn't floating around somewhere.
"Hey," Adam said, squatting to be at eye-level with Kris. "You're hating this, aren't you?"
"How'd you guess?" Kris asked, not bothering to hide the bitterness in his voice. "I get to close the show with one song, and I don't even know how I'm getting out there, or how I'm gonna play guitar."
"Don't worry," Adam reassured, kissing the crown of Kris' head. "We've got you covered.
--
That was the last Kris saw of Adam for the entire rest of the night, and nobody else seemed to have the slightest idea what he was talking about, so Kris spent two-and-a-half hours worrying and going back and forth about whether or not to even perform at all.
Then, Adam's set was done, and Adam was backstage, wordlessly helping Kris stand up, and letting Kris lean on him for support while he hobbled out onstage.
Adam had heard the remarks, and he'd seen the look in Kris' eyes as people started viewing Kris differently. He didn't need to be told that Kris didn't want to be seen on stage in that chair if he didn't have to. So, Adam just offered him a hand, and together, they made their way onstage, where Allison was waiting with her guitar, and fresh knowledge of the chords for Heartless.
Kris moved unsteadily to the chair set up onstage for him, and used the piano bench to prop his bad leg.
"Ladies and gentleman! Kris Allen!" Adam introduced, and then disappeared into the wings to watch as Allison played, and Kris sang.
And that's when Kris knew that to those that mattered, he would always be himself - never defined by outside circumstances.
To those that mattered, he would always be Kris.