The Eternal War Kasarewang
Anxious (2)

The next day, Barasa picks up Harsa at his house in the afternoon. He manages to get Aster's home address from the teachers at the school. Aster House is in a complex that is quite famous and included in the middle to upper housing.

“Wow.” Barasa commented when they had to leave the student card at the security guard office located in front of the entrance of the residential complex. “I've never been here before.”

“Ehm, me too. I don't know anyone here, before.”

They found Aster's house quite quickly, because the number was neatly lined up. In front of the high-fenced house, a family car was parked neatly. From the outside, Aster's house looked intimidating. The house is two-story. The outer walls are painted grey and added natural stone accents. From the terrace of his house, there is one manga tree whose branches come out overshadowing the car park.

Getting off the bike, Barasa knocks on the fence of Aster's house with his car keys.

“Belasa!” Harsa cried out in panic and clasped Barasa's hand, stopping his beat.

“Why?”

“Wear bell, dong! Later suspected we wrecked the home pager.” Harsa said while pressing the bell of the house that reached from outside the fence.

Barasa's face flushed. “Oh.”

They waited a few minutes for one boy who appeared to be still in elementary school to open the fence for them.

The boy looked at the two of them in confusion. “Who to look for?”

“Ehm, this is Aster's house right? We friends Aster from school again search Aster.” Answer Harsa.

The boy's forehead was wrinkled deep. “Hah? Brother Aster has friends?”

Harper was shocked to hear the boy's question. “Ya, we're friends kok.”

“Bentar,ya.” Without allowing them to enter, the boy returned to the house.

Harsa's heart was already quite relieved to hear the boy's answer. He thought he was going to meet Aster soon, but the boy returned alone.

“Kak Aster hasn't come home yet. Want to wait in her room?”

Harsa looked at Barasa with a look of wonder. “So Aster didn't go to school, did he?”

Barasa. “Neither.” Looking at the boy, Barasa nodded. “Bby. She'll be home, right?”

“Neighborhood.” He said while giving a gesture for Harsa and Barasa to follow him. Before long, they were already in Aster's small, dense, and neat room. Harsa was a bit uneasy about entering the girls' room, but Barasa seemed undisturbed. So, Harsa entered Aster's unlocked room.

In Aster's room there is a study table, a single bed, and a small closet that is closed. It was the things on the study table that caught Harsa's attention. There, skincare tools, eyeglasses, some bracelets, hair rubber, necklaces, and photo frames show one young couple alongside a small Aster. The most striking is one stone in which there are many stored Aster physis. Harsa automatically instantly sensed the existence of the stone through his aura and studied the stone carefully.

“What is it?” ask Barasa.

“Ndon't know. Seeing this stone, I remembered my brother's stuff.” Harsa refers to the agate rings that Adi always wears. “Perhaps because it is indeed an unpolished agate.” Harsa comments after paying careful attention to the stones.

They wait in Aster's room until the sound of people entering the house begins. After an hour, Harsa was worried again. He shook his head at Barasa.

“Feelings, I think something is wrong.”

“Why?”

“I've been wondering why we were let into his room Aster if the person is not at home. I can understand that he went ahead for a while for snacks, but now it's been an hour he hasn't returned as well.” Harsa said anxiously looking at the darkening sky. If it's late, without compromise Adi will come to teach him magic.

Harsa nodded in agreement. The two of them went out into the living room where a middle-aged woman was preparing dinner. Seeing Harsa and Barasa emerge from the second floor, the woman gasped.

“Jon!! JONI!!” His shouting.

Before long, the boy who let them in came. “Why ma?”

“This who??”

“Um, hello, aunt. Sorry to introduce myself late, I'm Harsa and this is Barasa. We are his friends Aster.” Harsa swiftly explained to avoid misunderstandings. He imagined how panicked the woman found suddenly in her house two teenage boys who entered without her knowledge.

“Iya, mom. She said her friend Kak Aster so I let her in.” Joni replied, although she seemed more interested in the dinner that had been lined up on the dining table.

“Okay, the boy!” The aunt's frustration is not gone. “If a friend wants to come say dong!! Aster! Aster!”

“Ma, Sister Aster has not come home yet. He's not home anymore.” Joni reminded.

“Masa?” ask Joni's mom not to believe it.

“Ehm, aunt. Aster usually home by himself?” Harsa asked, her heartbeat pounding more and more anxiously waiting for an answer from the Aster guardian.

“Iya. He always comes home alone! Why?”

Harsa's heart immediately fell upon hearing Aster's guardian's reply. Slowly, holding back the way things were spoken, Harsa told how she last saw Aster in front of the school gate at night alone. He also told them they came to Aster's house because they were worried Aster did not enter school without explanation. As he heard Harsa's explanation, the face of Aster's aunt grew pale.  “So you mean, Aster hasn't been home since three days ago?”

“Umm. We're here to find out that, aunt.” Answer Barasa in the lowest possible tone. Harsa and Barasa looked confused at this situation.

My own sense of confusion. How could his own family not know where Aster is?

Aunt Aster sat on the dining table massaging her forehead. “Duh! The boy!” Then with teary eyes she called her husband. After a short conversation on the phone, Aster's aunt takes them out of the house. “Already! You guys go home first. I'll call the police station to find Aster!”

“Tante, so is it true Aster didn't come home?”

“Ya!”

Harsa and Barasa are then left outside the house. They are both confused. “So how?” ask Barasa.

Harsa took a long breath. He feels really bad. Guilt began to fill him. Ah, if he chose to help Aster at the magic club show, if he hadn't left Aster alone in front of the school gate night-night, had he not fought with a second-grade child so he could have looked for Aster earlier…

“Sa. So how?” Barasa asked again because his friend did not answer.

The words of Barasa lifted Harsa from the thought pile ‘if only’. “This is a danger anyway? From earlier I have not said, but when the art show, Aster asked his friend for help right for the magic club show.”

“So, we have to ask his friend Aster?”

“Yes, the problem is I do not know and do not have the number.”

“How is this? He really doesn't exist.”

Harsa reached into the pocket of her pants. Inside there, there are agate stones from Aster's room that were accidentally carried away until now because they came out of Aster's house in a hurry.  “Maybe. Maybe we can ask my sister to help find out where Aster is, but you need to take me home first.”