My Brother's Burial

I dig. My hands are cracked with frozen blood and snow is carved into my skin. He can't be dead. I fall to my knees; my time has come. Mama came to drag me away from my brother and I scream. Mama then lets go and I see something. It's black and shaped like a rectangle. I can't really see it-it's covered in snow. Mama doesn't see it. I go to it and pick it up. It has silver squiggles on it. What do they mean?