Frostbite

By Berry's Ambitions

A/N: Decided to do a Christmas-themed fic after all. I was originally toying around with spoofing A Christmas Carol but then inspiration struck and this was born instead. It's not even a total Christmas story. It's more of a winter-esque story. But whatever.

I really have no idea what snow is like in the New Mexico desert. I attempted research on the internet and also asked my former science teacher but have no idea if I'm correct. Please forgive me if I'm not. It's also been a long time since I've been exposed to small children, so forgive me if that's also inaccurate...

I was gonna upload this on December 25th but figured it would be a lot easier to just do it now, since the next Abducted chapter will hopefully be posted on that day. ;)

Enjoy and merry Christmas!

WARNINGS: Thematic elements that may be disturbing to some readers.

December 20th, 1987

3:59 pm

The few who knew about Yuma Flats were aware that it didn't snow there.

But five-year-old Lizard wasn't sure why.

He wished it did. He'd seen pictures of it and it looked so pretty and fluffy, like marshmallows. Lizard liked marshmallows.

It was the picture on the calendar now. Lizard was confused by this. Why would it be on the calendar if it didn't exist in the desert? It boggled the little boy's mind.

Of course he had to find someone who had all the knowledge in the world to answer this question.

"Mama?" Lizard, who was perched at the windowsill, called.

Juno had been reading a book, but at the sound of her child's voice she looked up. "Yes novio?"

"Why doesn't it snow here?"

"Here?" she questioned. "You mean the desert?"

The child nodded.

She seemed to be deep in thought. "Well, darling... I guess it's because of the part of the world we live in."

Lizard frowned. "Then why do other people get to see the snow?"

"For the same reason." She leaned back in her chair after setting her novel on the floor. "My own mama used to tell me stories about the snow."

"She did?" Now Lizard was very interested, crawling onto his mother's lap.

"Yes," Juno confirmed, drawing her small son into her arms. "She did. Would you like to hear them?"

He nodded, vigorous and eager.

She chuckled. "Okay, okay. Snow is like ice, she said. It's not like sand. When you pick it up, it melts in your hands and turns into water."

"Wooooow." Lizard was awed by this. "Is it cold?"

Juno grinned. "Oh yes. Very cold. It can be light and fluffy or as hard as the ice itself! You'd want to wear mittens when you play in it."

"Can you take me to the snow, Mama?"

She kissed his scruffy head. "I wish I could, mi niño, but that isn't possible. I'm sorry."

"That's okay Mama." Lizard snuggled against her chest. "Does it taste good?"

"Like water, my mama said. So perhaps. I'm sure it's better than sand."

Lizard scrunched up his nose. "Sand tastes yucky."

"Which is exactly why you shouldn't trick Pluto into eating it," she reminded him sternly.

"He's such a tattletale," Lizard grumbled.

Juno smiled wryly. "He didn't tell me anything."

"Then how did you find out?"

She tapped his nose. "Because mamas know things."

Lizard, content with this fact, uttered the word "okay" and fell asleep against her warmth.

December 13th, 2004

4:00 am

He let the body drop to the sand.

The moonlight made the sand look white and soft.

Like snow.

He stared at his victim and randomly thought back to that day with his mother. He wasn't sure why. He just did.

He decided that snow looked better when it was stained red.

~The End~

A/N: So, how was that? I'm sure I could've done better, but I hope this wasn't total crap, lol. For those of you who are new to my Hills Have Eyes work, Juno is one of my fancharacters. Yes, there is a reason she spoke a bit of Spanish and will be explained later in my other fics. For those of you who are familiar with my HHE writings, I hope you enjoyed the first glimpse of Juno's character, who will be expanded upon later.

I know I completely killed the fluff at the end but after reading it over without the dark ending it just seemed... off. I'm sure you new readers are confused by how and why I decided to finish the one-shot the way I did so I'll summarize it: Juno was killed by humans right in front of Lizard, who was only twelve at the time. Thus Lizard hates humans and everything they stand for.

I think that's all I wanted to talk about, really. It killed me trying to find the appropriate title for this. PM me if you have any questions or if I was unclear about something.

Please review and let me how this turned out! :D Happy holidays everybody!