Last year was a chilly winter, and the heat arrived late this year. My brother and I used to love making snowmen when we were kids during the winter, but he wasn’t with me any more. He was arrested two years for my mother’s mother, but he told me that it was a false accusation. I believed him. He loved her and wouldn’t have laid a hand on her. The last time I heard about him was when he committed suicide in prison.

I finished making the snowman myself by Christmas. I could always see it outside my window, alone in the harsh, cold wind. It almost felt… human. A couple of months passed away, and the heat came in. All the snow was melting, and it seemed like the snowman would melt sometime overnight.

One day, I was shoving the snow outside my house, trying to earn some money by doing chores. As I was shoving the snow near snowman, I heard something. I turned around, but there was nothing. I ignored it and continued doing my job… but this time, I heard a voice.

“Hey kid!”

It sounded muffled, but it was clear that it was a human voice. I turned around again, but this time I was met with the face of the snowman. The face seemed crooked this time. The neck was tilted at an unnatural angle. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, but I could swear that the snowman had moved.

“It’s me.”

It was coming from the snowman. I stared at it, waiting for it to say something again.

“I’m sorry about leaving you alone.”

I fell down on my knees and tears poured out of my eyes as I shoved my head into the snowman as I realized it was my dead brother who was talking to me.

“It’s okay. I got you.”

All of it felt like a dream, but I didn’t want it to end.

“Why did you leave me?”

I waited for a couple seconds before I received an answer.

“I didn’t kill her.”

“I know you didn’t.”

“Dad did. After that argument. He killed her and accused me for her murder.”

I paused and looked at the snowman.

“He buried her in the backyard. You need to give her a proper goodbye. You need to bury her next to my grave, just like she wanted.”

I cried next to him for hours and just wished I could stay by him for the rest of my life.

“It’s fine. I’ll always be looking after you.”

I did what he said, and my father’s now in jail.

I can still see the snowman outside my window every night, looking after me.