A/N: I was listening to the song 'Hello' by Evanescence, and I just thought how amazingly sad the lyrics were, so I had to write a songfic for it. It's a short, sad ficcy about Klio's mum.
This is the sequel to Cliff by the Sea.

Disclaimer: Did I own Pokemon when I wrote Cliff by the Sea? No. So why on earth should I own it now?

HELLO

Playground, school bell rings
Again
Rain clouds come to play
Again


Klio hadn't come home that night.

Evangeline was worried. Yes, worried! She was appalled at herself for never having cared before. Klio was sixteen years old - she had been alive for sixteen years, and her mother had never said 'I love you' or helped her with her homework.

Not once.

It was nine in the morning. Yesterday, Klio had gone...

Oh my god, thought Evangeline. I don't even know where she was. She was out all day, and all night, and I don't know where she was!

Horrible pictures crept into Evangeline's mind, some involving night clubs, most involving boys. Then she shook herself. Klio wasn't the type of girl to do something like that! Or was she? Evangeline had never taken any notice.

Has no one told you
She's not breathing?


Evangeline was beside herself with anxiety. What could have happened? She remembered one year ago, when Klio's little friend Matthew had been found dead at the bottom of the cliff. It had never been discovered exactly how he died, and depressingly, the boy's parents had never come forward. But Klio had been depressed enough before then, and after her friend's death she became hollow inside, like an empty shell.

And Evangeline had never given her a second thought.

It's all right, she told herself. Don't get paranoid. You don't know where she is, but she's probably perfectly fine. But - Evangeline felt herself becoming even more twitchy - but if it involves boys, then...

Then what? Evangeline wouldn't have cared, a while ago. To stop herself being neurotic, she turned on TV in time to hear a serious, middle-aged man say,

"...another death by the Lavender Cliff. Since the death of an unidentified boy, spoken of by his best friend as 'Matt', by the Cliff, it has become feared by locals as extremely volatile and dangerous. The girl found dead will be shown shortly. If you have any information, please call this number." The phone number flashed on the screen. Then they showed the picture.

Evangeline gasped and rubbed her eyes. There were paramedics all around the thin, scrawny figure sprawled on the ground. She had curly, long brown hair with streaks of sun-bleached gold. Her eyes were closed peacefully. A trickle of blood was running down her forehead and her neck was twisted just that bit too unnaturally far. Her mouth was in a serene, sad smile. There was no mistaking that smile, even if it now held no life.

Hello
I am your mind
Giving you someone to talk to
Hello


Evangeline bolted from her seat and dialled the number frantically, although the man was now saying,

"It is unclear how the girl died, though there are signs of a struggle. She may have been pushed off."

"You have reached Saturday's Good Morning Lavender. Please hold and one of our staff will be with you shortly." There was a short pause filled by ridiculously happy, upbeat music. Then: "Geraldine speaking. How can I help you?"

Struggling to stay coherent, Evangeline said as levelly as she could, "I'm the mother of the girl who died."

"Oh, fantastic!" Evangeline nearly dropped the reciever. "Oh, could you come on for an interview please? Name? Address?"

"I'M NOT GOING TO BE EXPLOITED BY YOUR STUPID SHOW!" wailed Evangeline. "Just tell me where I can find my daughter!"

"Of course, madam," said Geraldine lightly on the other end. "So sorry for my insensitivity. But perhaps afterwards, we could have a word -"

"WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?"

"Look, madam, I can only make short calls. Give me your name and address and I'll get back to you. Sorry."

Evangeline threw down the reciever disgustedly, then burst into tears.

If I smile and don't believe
Soon, I know I'll wake
From this dream


In hysterics, she got into her car and drove off to the Lavender Cliff. She ran down to the bottom, where there were police and and ambulance. "Sorry, ma'am, but only authorised personell past this point."

"I'm her mother!" screamed Evangeline, vision blurred by tears. "I'm her mother!"

"Name?"

"Just let me see my daughter!" she sobbed, pushing past the police. One grabbed her arm and held it behind her back.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we can't let you through."

"Fine! Fine then! My name is Evangeline Ward! Now let me through!" She glared defiantly at the police, then her face crumpled and she let out a great howl of despair. "Her name is Klio. Please. Please let me see her."

The policeman eyed her warily, unable to feel sympathy for her, half-insane as, at that moment, she was. Finally he decided she was relatively harmless and marched her to the ambulance.

"Darling!" howled Evangeline at her daughter's face. Her cut had been cleaned, her neck straightened. What good would it do? Klio was gone! GONE! "Darling, I'm so sorry, I never meant it, I was a terrible mother, oh, darling, Klio darling..." She clutched at her daughter's shirt, stroked her limp hair.

Don't try to fix me
I'm not broken


She stared at the policeman, the same wild look in her eyes as her daughter's, one year ago.

"It's a bad dream!" she had cried pleadingly to Evangeline. "I'll wake up any minute. Won't I?"

Her eyes closed, hair wild and clothes wet and dirty, a tranquil smile upon her lifeless face.

Won't I, Mum?

"Please tell me it's not true," Evangeline whispered to the policeman. "Please tell me it's a prank. A gameshow. Where are the hidden cameras?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I think you'll find this is quite real," said the policeman coldly. He wasn't in the mood to comfort weeping mothers. The girl had probably commited suicide. Who'd want to live in a dump like this anyway?

Evangeline stared beseechingly at the policeman. He stared coldly back. "What am I going to do, without her?" she whimpered. "My only daughter, and I never even noticed her. It took me sixteen years to realise she was there..." Evangeline collapsed to the ground, rocking back and forth in a ball, crying to herself.

Hello
I am the lie
Living for you so you can hide
Don't cry


The policeman rolled his eyes irritably. This woman! No wonder her daughter got fed up with her, the snivelling heap. Single as he was, and with a loving family, he didn't understand what Evangeline was going through. He didn't understand what it felt like to have no one.

Evangeline hadn't either, not until Klio got sick of it all and killed herself.

"You never tried! You never loved me! You didn't even know I was there! Don't pretend you tried!"

Klio had put up with it all, her whole, short life, because she had Matt to lean on when it all got too much.

"I'll take you with me," said Matt, and grabbed her hand. "We're going to go together, okay?"

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Klio smiled and looked back out to sea. "Don't forget me."


But then Matt had broken Klio's heart by leaving without her. Matt was a part of Klio. And where he had been, there was a gaping hole, empty and hollow.

It was no wonder Klio had jumped off the cliff that last night.

But Evangeline would never know this.

Suddenly, I know
I'm not sleeping


Evangeline had missed out on her daughter's life. Not once had she given her a birthday present, told her she loved her, put an arm around her and asked how she was, looked at her drawings. She hadn't noticed, when Klio was thirteen and got contacts, getting rid of her dorky glasses. She hadn't noticed, when Klio had gotten straight 'A's in everything on her report card. She hadn't noticed that Klio was there at all.

Hello
I'm still here
All that's left of yesterday