Emerald Eyes

43 - Performer at Heart

It took only seconds for Watse and the security guard from Omnia to hurry over to Martijn checking on him. I followed closely behind them. As arrived next to them, I could immediately see the pain in his eyes. He must have landed on the wrong foot jumping down from the podium. Watse and the guard had realized the same thing and carried Martijn a few meters over to the backstage area. In a matter of seconds, Julian had handed Anna his drink and was back on the stage, covering for Martijn without asking any further questions. You simply needed friends like that. Watse and I meanwhile took care of Martijn. "What happened?", Watse asked. "I have to continue the show.", was the first thing Martijn got out. "Don't worry, Julian got back up on stage and is taking care of the crowd.", I said, trying to calm him down. His fans were the first thing he cared about. Martijn sighed and then pointed to his ankle: "I slipped after my jump and then there was this pain in my ankle." "Okay, sit down.", Watse said, "You have to take your shoe off." Martijn tried to do so but grimaced in pain immediately. "Here, let me help you.", I answered and kneeled down in front of him, carefully helping him to get out of the shoe. "Watse! I have to go and continue the show.", Martijn said again. "That's absolutely irresponsible.", Watse replied, "You can't even stand on your feet." Martijn tried to get up and prove him wrong, but failed immediately. "I know you wanna play for them because you never want to disappoint your fans and I completely understand that, Tijn.", I joined their discussion, "But maybe this time you should listen to Watse. Health is important and this could be serious. Your ankle is already starting to swell." "Sorry baby, but I'm afraid you don't get this. I have to finish my set. Y'all can take me to see a doctor afterwards, but I am gonna finish this set.", he insisted. And I could see in his eyes that he really meant it and there was no point in telling him otherwise. I shot a checking glance at Watse before I decided to help Martijn. "Okay. Maybe we can organize a chair for you to sit on so you don't have to put too much weight on your ankle. But you're definitely gonna have to see a doctor afterwards.", I exclaimed. Watse sighed: "Sometimes I hate that you are so stubborn. Don't blame me afterwards – I told you so, Martijn. But if you insist..." "I do.", Martijn answered and was already trying to get back to the stage. I quickly hurried to help him, as Watse ran backstage to organize a chair for him. As Martijn and I re-entered the stage area, Julian turned around and Martijn gave him a thumbs up. Julian finished up another song and then helped Martijn get back behind the CDJs. Watse soon followed and put a high chair next to Martijn, so he could give his foot some rest. First thing Martijn did was apologizing to his fans for the few minutes he had been away. He then put up some music for them once more. For the drops, he turned to hopping on one foot with them. Watse on the other side of the stage was shaking his head. What Martijn did was risky, most definitely, but I got why he was doing it. Martijn was still full of adrenaline from his performance and I was actually quite sure that he didn't even feel the full pain due to the adrenaline rush. Also, the shows meant the world to Martijn. I remember him once telling me how he felt most alive on stage seeing his fans smile. He played a few more songs and it all somehow worked out for him, even though I could see in his eyes that he was more and more in pain the further he got into the show. Still, he was a performer and a warrior a heart, so he powered through till the end and his fans gifted him with an outpouring of love. As Martijn stood behind the DJ booth for his final song, "High on Life", Watse had already called an ambulance to take Martijn to a nearby hospital as soon as he got done with the show. The last few chords of "High on Life" faded and after he said goodbye to his fans, Watse and Stephan carried him down from the stage again. The paramedics had already arrived and started to help Martijn lay down on a stretcher, as Watse said: "Line, would you quickly go and grab his and your stuff and accompany him to the hospital? I'll come to check on you as soon as I can, okay?" What a question, of course I would. I quickly squeezed Martijn's hand and then scrambled together all of our stuff. Martijn was completely exhausted by the show, that was obvious and he was now also starting to feel the real pain. The paramedics loaded him into the ambulance and I was assigned the passenger seat, still wearing Martijn's warm hoody and all worried about him.