Growing up out in the middle of nowhere, I would often look out at the Garden near my home. It stood alone and did not come with a home and no caretaker that I ever saw. Our house the only one for miles. Strange lights so bright would sometimes dance in that garden. I was oddly unafraid and pulled towards it. I would ride my bike down the dirt path leading to the overgrown but lush garden, where I would hear whispers of many different voices. Throughout my childhood, I would write the whispers down in a diary I kept and many years later was able to piece together the stories from what I now call The Ghost Garden I never did, thankfully, meet the sole and apparently deceased gardener. Whispers said his name was Aaron, meaning high mountain, and he took the meaning of names quite seriously. So seriously in fact, that is how he chose his victims... and his garden was the most lush you have ever laid eyes on.

Truly, The Twin Sister of Liana Truly was a name given to her by her great Grandmother. Unconditional Love was her motto of life, and she chose my name with the though of a tulip in mind. A tulip, she said, was a flower that symbolized eternal love. A constant. Just like the love I would have for my twin sister.

The gardener, Aaron, chooses his victims by their given names. For his father named him Aaron, and that meant high mountain. He grew to be 7 feet tall after all.

Truly hadn't heard from her sister now for an entire week. Her twin sister. She knew something was wrong, and felt an ache in her heart that made her stomach wretch. Something was very wrong indeed. The last time she had spoke to Liana, she mentioned driving to purchase some flowers . In such a small place as where the twins lived, it didn't take long to find the garden Liana had visited. She had even found out with whom the garden had belonged. Aaron was his name, and the young man who told her also said that she couldn't miss him, for he was 7 feet tall.

Armed with her revolver, she drove closer to the garden and felt a chill. Even stronger was being drawn to this garden. There he was. Dead center, shovel in hand, already making eye contact as if he were waiting for her. Truly parked and walked to him with her revolver out and steady. He looked as if he had seen a ghost. It all happened so fast. That damned shovel struck her head, but not before she managed her shot. The shot that hit Aaron right in his deformed eye. Both Truly and Aaron died in the garden that day. No one will ever see Aaron's face again. His image will not be remembered. The whispers of the Ghosts in the Garden gave me enough detail to share their story with these artworks, so that the truth of their deaths would be recorded and go down in history.

1620 x 2160 PNG (1.5MB) digital painting, photograph, and photo-sculpting was used to create this artwork