Amnesia and Star Child

“Come in.” The familiar voice said.
Gathering her wits, Leila stepped into the room and closed the door, turning back to look at the man who was lying in the hospital bed before her.
His face was so thin - everything about him looked skeletal - what had been going on?
“Hey.” He smiled, that smile - only one man could pull that one off like that.
Mike Shinoda.
It couldn’t possibly be Mike - no - no way...
“Mike...?” Leila murmured in disbelief, staring with her mouth agape.
“Yeah, it’s me. Smiley Mikey in the flesh... Well, what’s left of it anyway...” Mike smiled dryly.
“What happened...?” Leila came closer and sat down, totally mesmerized by Mike’s wasted form.
He was so... Bony...
“Long, long story.” Mike waved his hand dismissively.
Awkward silence passed for a moment.
“Geez, Leila stop staring - it’s making me feel guilty...” Mike said at last.
“Sorry - I - I didn’t mean to...” Leila’s gaze snapped down to her lap and she blushed furiously.
“It’s okay. Look, I was a bit of a wacko the last time we met, and before that I was being a jerk... So, if it’s okay with you, I’m going to be stuck here for probably another fortnight or so and I’d really appreciate it if you’d... Visit me when you can - if you want - I mean... You don’t have to. If you don’t want...” Mike was stumbling over his words - something Leila had never seen him do before.
“No, no, um - it’s okay - um...” Leila smiled slightly, still trying to disguise her reddened cheeks.
“So you will?”
“Yeah - yeah of course...”
Mike smiled again.
“Cool... So...” Mike struggled into an upright position, his bony shoulders poking noticeably under the thin material of the hospital gown. “Tell me a bit about yourself.”
Leila hesitated.
“What is there to say?” She shrugged her shoulders.
“Aw c’mon - it’s not hard. What do you do for work? What are your hobbies? You know, stuff like that.” Mike looked at her expectantly.
“Well I’m a dancer.” Leila said.
“A stripper?” Mike raised his eyebrows.
“No! No, no - I’m an Oriental dancer, you know - belly dancing; I do dances for people at carnivals and things. So I travel a lot. I’m on a holiday now.” Leila said.
Mike frowned and flushed pink.
“Sorry...” He mumbled.
“It’s okay. So what do you like to do?” Leila asked.
Mike snorted.
“You already know all about me. Just look on a fan site and you’ll have all you need to know. C’mon - you’ve gotta like doing more than just dancing.” He insisted.
“Well... I like to paint and sketch. I’ve bought a few Arabian horses and trained them for my performances. I had one that I worked with for a long time, a gorgeous grey pointed gelding - would you believe - called Phoenix.” Leila smiled.
“Hah! Phoenix would like that. So what else? Is it fun travelling?” Mike laughed.
“I like it. I’ve done a lot of travelling for most of my life so I guess I’m used to it...” Leila trailed off awkwardly.
“Family move a lot?” Mike asked sympathetically.
“Yeah. Sort of.”
Silence fell awkwardly over the two for a while.
“So what’s that you got there?” Mike pointed at the little box in Leila’s hands.
“Oh this - it’s an old music box a friend gave me. You can have it if you want - as a present.” Leila handed it to Mike.
“Nah that’s okay, you can keep it -”
“I insist.”
Mike hesitated as Leila firmly pushed the music box into his hands.
“Well okay...” Mike ran his fingers over the little porcelain box and lifted the lid - the ballerina popped up and started slowly turning as music filled the air.
Mike’s face became expressionless, he became absolutely still as he listened to the music.
“Is this Fantaisie-Impromptu by Chopin?” He asked.
“Yeah it is. You like Chopin?”
“Um yeah I guess so.”
Mike set the little box on the bedside table and closed the lid, his eyes flicked to the watch on the table and back to Leila.
“You’d better go. The nurse will be here in a moment and she’s funny about me getting visitors when I’m ‘in my condition’.” Mike smiled dryly.
“Okay, um... I guess I’ll see you around then... Um...”
“Yeah, come around again tomorrow or something okay?”
“Sure. I’ll see you later... Bye...” Leila waved and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.