Hans the Blind Witch of the Aksara
Script 1b: The Owner of a Mysterious House

The Withered Pole was a small town on the outskirts of Eden, the kingdom of Elim. Along the way to school, a group of children walked in the shade of large trees that made the sunlight bother to penetrate it. The line of children looked neat with Bernard walking ahead as the leader of the line.

Hans tried to catch up, he walked a little quickly. Soon the line entered the downtown area, people passed by, chariots and workers filled the city streets. The clothes of the nobles and commoners can be clearly seen the difference, the nobles wear suits with colors like light brown and and dark blue, which women wear on a canal dress with brocade and a beautiful dress. While the workers wear workshop clothes, some wear frog clothes that are covered in oil and also dirt that will not disappear despite being washed many times. For beggars, especially those with the disease, they are required to live in the suburbs and are not allowed to enter urban areas.

In some corners it was also seen children wearing pet hats[1] in shabby clothes, they wear thick jackets to fight the cold of the day— early days of winter— behind the thick and shabby clothes they wear there is a thin body and bones that are only wrapped in skin without meat. The children of the home wear their winter clothes, the children they see do not go to school. Although they were only between eight and fifteen years old, they did not get education and chose to become laborers. Of course they have parents, but it is precisely they who force these children to work. Employers like underage workers because their pay is cheap, even though the risk of accidents at work is higher.

Hans was one of them, though he always did so without the head nurse's knowledge. The results he got for sure he entrusted to uncle Wiggin, who then gave the old man to the orphanage in the form of donations.

**

They reached the school, entering the courtyard and a large gate made of sturdy stones. The school is an old castle donated by the royal family as a place for the children of the royal population in the town of Withered Pole to get an education. As they were about to enter, ten other children were standing at the gate, they seemed to be waiting for something.

The line entered the branch regularly, Bernard paved the way in following his younger brothers from behind. All entered without hindrance and disturbance, but when Hans' turn came, the ten children closed the gate with their bodies.

"Stop!"

"You think you can just walk in after you hit me yesterday?!" Asked a bright blonde young man, his eyes were blue, he was twenty centimeters taller than Hans. Hans looked up at the tall figure before him, "What do you want?!" Ask Hans ketus.

"Kids, beat him up!" Said the handsome young man, Hans' right and left hands were held by the handsome boy's minions. The handsome boy smiled wickedly, he stretched his handbooks, shaking his right and left shoulders. His right hand held high, he was about to hit Hans right on his nose, but his actions came to a halt.

"Clarence! Don't force me!" A cold voice rang out in the ears of the handsome young man named Clarence, smoke was seen on the right side of his face due to the breath and sound that collided with the dinginya of the morning air.

Looking terrified at his face, Clarence looked back. Bernard's unfriendly face, fed by anger here and there made him tremble small, although with narrowed eyes, Bernard's large body made Clarence afraid.

"Take him off and I'll let you guys!" Bernard said as he clenched his fingers, the other boy gulped. They certainly realized, the strength of Bernard the 'Bear', Bernard was a legend, where he beat ten seniors who were much bigger than him alone.

"Ta.. But..." Clarence was about to rebut, but his fear overcame him. He retreated and ran away in the midst of his men. Bernard looked at them until they disappeared into the school building. Bernard looked one or two years older than Hans, this is unclear as there is no letter stating their date of birth.

"Thank you Bear!" Hans said as he fixed his clothes.

"No problem! That's their base, the children of noble families! Always mean to us commoners! Damn you!" Bernard looked annoyed, his face flushed red as he harbored anger. Hans was the one who knew best how strong Bernard really was. He also did not understand how this boy who was no more than ten years old beat up a fifteen-year-old young man, plus their number was ten!

**

The lesson began, Hans as usual he tried hard to understand the writing in the books given to him, but he never managed to read. Although in terms of questions and answers he was never wrong, remembering what his teacher said to him was an easy thing for him. He remembers everything, from the words when the teacher first entered into habits that even his teachers were unaware of.

"So soon he must have scratched the back of his right ear.." Said Hans quietly, while observing the movements of the middle-aged woman who was teaching in front of the class. Miss Fransiska, a biology teacher, sure enough not how long the female teacher scratched her ear. Hans also has other hobbies that are quite unique, he likes to observe other people, or rather he likes to observe humans. Observe how they interact, how they talk to each other, observe their habits and manner of speaking. He learned everything, even he had little ability to know when someone was lying.

"His expression was stiff, his right hand was scratching his left hand,"

"His face looked a little embarrassed when explaining about his father and mother,"

"He's covering something up" Hans said when he saw the skinny boy talking to a friend behind him, he was embarrassed when asked if his father was a laborer and his mother was a maid.

Hans' ability to observe and remember is excellent. However, it was disappointing that he was unable to read, the written symbols were his great enemy. He saw the writing jump and exchange positions, so it was very difficult to memorize the meaning.

The lesson ended, the school hours lasted only three hours, from seven to ten. Hans tidied up his gear, then jumped through the window, carrying his sling bag. Strolling bent over trying not to be seen by someone, he ran through the hallway near the back wall of the school, climbing it.

"Plack!"

"Aw! It hurts!" Pekiknya, looks flushed temples, even there are wounds there. His eyes hunted, looking in the direction from which the stone came.

"CLARENCE!" He shouted, looking at the familiar figure and his twenty men behind him. It seemed like Clarence had yet to give up on his revenge, Hans could only hold back the anger and jump down the other direction and run out of school.

"CHASE!!" Clarence said as he ran after Hans, but when the group reached the other side of the wall, Hans's figure was long gone.

"Damn! That kid's going fast!" Clarence said, kicking gravel on the side of the road.

**

Hans ran as hard as he could, looking back a few times until he finally hit the straw horse.

"Bronch!"

"Ouch!!" His screams endured the pain.

"Hey boy! Don't run in the middle of town! Look where you're going!" An old geezer grumbled from the top of the straw-carrying cart. Seeing Clarence lose track of him, Hans quickly apologized and then continued on his way, he walked down the main street of the city, a sea of people filling the city road that afternoon. Hans arrived in front of a shop with a large bottle hanging over a large board that read 'Wiggin's Bar', without a hint of hesitation he entered, but he entered through the back door. That's because adults will throw him out if they know a boy enters the bar, which in fact is a place for 'adult' people'.

"Hi Uncle!" Hans said he surprised the old man who was cleaning the bar table that afternoon.

"Come! Hey Hans can you stop doing that!" Uncle Wiggin gave a sharp look, Hans nodded with a smile, then apologized.

"Sorry uncle Wiggin, alright I will repeat it! Eh, won't repeat it I mean!"

"Hey Uncle, Bernard said you have a new job?!" Hans asked, now his face was serious.

"Yhmmp! You little caterpillar!"

"Wait a minute, look over there!"

"The man with the black hat and the dapper clothes and the woman across the table," His whisper was small, while embracing Hans enthusiastically.

"What do you think?" Ask Uncle Wiggins again.

"Hmmm.."

"His ears were moving, he was very enthusiastic,"

"I don't understand his expression, his face is red, his eyes are like drunkenness,"

"As the lady in a red dress opposite her, her pupils shrunk, her eyebrows rose right at the end. His forehead lifted, even for a moment and he tried to cover it with a smile,"

"That lady is disgusted?" Hans asked doubtful of his guess, it was natural, he was young and did not know the concept of lust and deceit.

"Hahaha, not bad. You'll understand when you grow up!" Said Uncle Wiggin a little surprised and then laughed.

"Now look, bearded man in the corner!" Hans followed Uncle's finger.

"He was offering cheap festivities, but no one believed him because it was too cheap!" Uncle Wiggins held his chin while observing.

Hans focused his gaze, studying every detail of the bearded man.

"The outer corner of his eyebrows is down, his right and left cheeks are seen pushed out,"

"He was sad, troubled and exhausted.."

"But, his eyes are full of light and confidence, don't tell me.."

"Uncle Wiggins, hurry up and buy her decorations, she's telling the truth.." Hans said confidently, then took a wooden glass from the Uncle's shelf, filled it with water from a wooden barrel in the corner of the bar.

"Hello sir, have a drink!" Hans offered in a friendly manner, his innocent face making the man smile.

"Ah.. Ah.. Thanks son!" The bearded man rubbed little Hans' head and received a wooden glass from his hand.

Hans turned around, then walked back towards Uncle Wiggin. Of course, he did not forget his original purpose, he did not realize the advice he gave the uncle would change the life of the bar owner.

"Hey Uncle, Bernard said you have a new job?!" Hans asked, with an innocent face and full attention, as if every single remark of the uncle was his future.

"Of course I have a new job, this time the pay is quite high! 10 Rupees once work, huh, how?!" Said Uncle Wiggin proudly, his face slightly teasing Hans who half glared at him.

"really? What job gets 10 Rupiahs one time work?! You didn't tell me to be a pickpocket, did you?!" Hans was suspicious of the old man, his eyes giving the old man a look of 'don't mess around'.

"Of course Uncle, over to help the sisters and sisters in the parlour!" Hans said confidently.

"Good! The job this time was to clear the chimney of one of the nobles!"

"Although a noble of this family prefers to live near the forest, away from the crowd! If you accept it I'll ask the courier to take you there on a horse, he's even willing to pay the cost of his horse hehehe," Smile looks on the face of old man Wiggin, not because he could help Hans, but because the nobleman even gave him five Rupiahs as the cost of finding workers for him.

"All right! When can I start working?" Hans looked excited, ten Rupiahs was enough to buy wheat for a month, or even more. Because for a simple family of two Rupia have been able to meet their needs for two months. You can imagine how much money he received this time!

"All right!"

[Whistling sounds]

A shrill voice rang throughout the bar, uncle Wiggin used his hand to make a whistle sound by attaching his index finger and thumb to the tip of his lips.

"Yes boss! You called?!" A thin-haired man with and thin body swiftly ran towards Hans and Uncle Wiggin.

"Darmono, please take Hans to Mr. Atkinson's place!" Sumringah, Uncle Wiggin spoke in a quite loud voice. The man called Darmono looked at Hans, judged him a glance, then nodded. Darmono was one of the Javana tribe who was brought here as a manual laborer.

"Let's come with me!" Darmono walked first, Hans followed from behind, before long they reached the stables behind the bar owned by uncle Wiggin.

"Strong attack, son!" Said Darmono, he drove his horse through the crowd of the city, turned left when in the fork and began to move towards the forest at the foot of the mountain. The view of the city changed with towering trees, and the sound of birds chirping and the cold grew, snow scattered, scattered on the road.

"Haie Ho!" Darmono muttered a strange language while spurring his horse. The shadow of a small town and thousands of sick people by the roadside are visible, some even dying without food and because of the cold of winter. When he was about to get carried away with sadness, the horse they were riding ran faster.

"Umm, uncle aren't we going too fast?!" Hans held Darmono as he could, worried that he would fall.

"Of course not! The noble house is right at the foot of the mountain, if we are slow maybe tomorrow we can just go home, this forest will be very dangerous at night." Darmono said without turning his body. Sure enough, the journey took almost two hours, more than five small rivers they passed. Various types of birds and trees they meet, until finally they arrive at a path, the strange thing is the air becomes warm when they enter the area of the path.

"It's.." Hans, who was aware of the changes in temperature and the surrounding atmosphere, looked puzzled, with his above-average observational ability, and he could easily be aware of it. However, Darmono is different, he may be too tired to realize the temperature becomes much warmer, and the road was not covered with snow, neatly arranged to form a small wall on the side of the road.

Finally, the two arrived at the courtyard belonging to the nobleman, a large tree was in the middle of the house, or arguably the small castle. There are three parts of the castle that form a triangle around a tree that is even larger than the castle itself.

"That's amazing!" Hans was unable to hold back his admiration, his mouth taking off praise without him noticing. His eyes then looked at the chimney that was on the left side of the third part of the castle in the form of a rectangle and jutted out of the left part of each part of the castle.

"Have a very high fee!" Hans said slowly, Darmono tethered his horse in the stable of the noble owner of the castle, there were no guards escorting the large castle. The two were only greeted by an old servant whose body was bent, so he seemed to have osteoporosis.

"Gum!"

"Master's waiting in the upstairs room, who's gonna clean the chimney?" Asked the old servant, his face was full of wrinkles and his brows tapered looking at the two with a cold gaze.

"Me!" Hans said, though he was a little scared in his heart. He braved himself and took one step forward, the old servant saw Hans, from his head to his feet, before long shaking. The waiter took Hans up, while Darmono was asleep under a shady tree, with the aim of gathering energy for the trip home which would be very tiring.

"Please, come in through this door,"

"Follow the burning oil lamps, sir are waiting!" The waiter said, opened the door and let Hans in. Hans walked in through the door the maid had opened, the door had two doors, one was open and the other was still closed.

"Clack!" The door closed from the outside, before long the lights dimmed and the maid was no longer Hans found. Hans flinched, not yet lost his surprise his eyes were greeted by a dim room as it was windowless, the illumination coming only from oil lamps clinging neatly and lined up neatly on the walls.

'Where was the old man..?!'

'This house is why it feels scary,'

'The outer and inner looks are completely different..' Hans was inward, obviously at this moment the fear started to wriggle in his little heart.

Hans set his foot on the first rung, he raised his head then looked to the top right of the stairs, seen there was a pair of legs that were about to go up, he said, the ladder is a little unique where the shape is leter-l covered on the top by the wall and only the bottom is visible. So that the direction of his view is blocked and can only see a pair of feet with black shoes.

"Oh you've come? Come up I wait," a voice sounded from upstairs.

"All right!" Hans replied, he then rushed up the stairs to chase after the figure he had previously met, even though he could only see a pair of legs.

[Kap sounds]

Hans' feet made a sound when he clashed with a wooden staircase, he reached the eleventh step, he turned to the right and was about to climb the next ladder. He lifted his head as his left leg was about to hit the stairs, his eyes slowly caught the figure of the owner of both legs, he first saw the cloth pants and neat suit he used, he was, but there was blood there. When he raised his head even more to see more clearly.

"YES!"

What greeted him was, a headless and bloodied figure waving towards him.

"UAHHHH!!!!" His shout was loud, even so, the castle seemed to block the sound from within. Darmono was still asleep under the tree, the man did not even realize the bed there was no snow, the place was like having a different season with the surrounding area, the place, full of grass.

Hans's body shook violently, his eyes closed, he did not dare to open them again. He was still shaking, but his body was now twitching, sculpting even he did not dare to breathe. He felt something touch his back, the oil lamps suddenly turned off and only one lit up, only the lamp behind him.

"Please!!" His screams in his heart when he was about to force himself to turn back, slowly he moved his head. While slowly opening his eyes, when he opened his eyes the figure of a man smiled at him.

"Ah Sir!" He took a deep breath, as if he were the owner of this house and helped him when he shouted. But his neck felt dry, as he lowered his gaze, the man had no body, and only his head floated with blood dripping on the floor, falling from the man's neck.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" Hans shouted as loudly as he could, and then lost consciousness.

"Thud!"

His body fell on the floor, before long the sound of footsteps could be heard from the upper room.

"Hey Canabis! What are you doing!!" Shouted a middle-aged man in a hurry, he shouted at the head and body surrounding Hans who was losing consciousness.

"I don't know, I'm just wondering who's gonna clean your chimney,"

"And I found this little boy, but what surprised me was that this boy was able to see me, sir!" The ghost told the middle-aged man the top of the stairs, the man had gray hair, with his glasses and hair neatly combed to the right. His body is tall with a shirt wrapped in a dark blue sweater.

"Can she see you?" The man was a little surprised then carried Hans up, he carried him and laid him on an ivory-white fur sofa.

"Take the water!" The man's orders to the ghost.

The ghost obediently ordered his body to fetch water from the table, carrying it with a strange ability so that the glass floated, and reached the hands of the man of the castle owner. The man then patted Hans on the shoulder and woke him up, before long the poor boy woke up.

His head felt dizzy from the shock that had clashed with the stairs earlier, then his eyes saw the figure of the man before him,"AHHHHHH!!! ITH!!!!! HELP AKUUUU!!"

Hans shouted out with all his might, he thought the man before him was the demon he had imagined. The man was shocked by Hans's voice and threw the glass in his hand.

"Calm down, son,"

"Quiet down!" Said the man while firmly holding Hans' shoulder, the boy examined the figure before him from top to bottom, and then said, "So you're not a ghost?!"

"No!" Answer the man.

[Pulling Breath]

"Luckily then," said Hans, he turned his face away and then shouted again.

"Ha.. Han... Ghost!!"

"Master we must run! That ghost is going to kill us!!" Hans panicked.

"Calm down boy! Relax!"

"He can't hurt us! Let me explain first!" The man spoke in a slightly confused manner, trying to find the easiest way to explain all this.

[1] A semi-round hat used by the famous detective Sherlock Holmes to pickpockets at the train station..