The Present Testament: A Novella

By Deanna Outten

“In silence we hold certainty, but in language we hold questions.”



As most of us know, there are two sides to every story, even if that story is “the” creation story. Much like the original text, after Eve stumbles across a garden she is encountered with Lucifer which leads to the occurrence of what is known as “the fall of mankind”. Eve, as the main character and narrator of The Present Testament, reveals her perspective on what happened after the event, as she begins to take action in trying to resolve Lucifer’s wrongdoings. However, as we are later introduced to her two sons, Abel and Cain, the two of them work tirelessly at helping their mother get back her revenge and begin to recreate the world in her image to save the future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9781669858010

Deanna Outten

Deanna Outten is a writer and poet who has been extremely dedicated to rediscovering her calling in life. Outten has experienced a series of events, trials, and life lessons that she has made into stories, myths, poems, and allegories. Before dedicating herself to writing, Outten had to overcome many challenges from her childhood. During her upbringing, Outten survived sexual trauma, and physical and verbal abuse, which she has openly talked about in her poetry. As a result, Outten suffered from mental and physical illnesses throughout her adult life. The hardships she has faced in her quest to rediscover her purpose are what awakened her to serve her true calling of being a writer. In 2021, Outten had her first heart attack in Washington Square Park, just after she had written a poem about death on the city ground with chalk. Ever since, Outten has been in and out of the hospital while simultaneously pursuing her craft of writing. In addition to working her part time job, Outten frequently attends open mic nights all over her home state of New Jersey. She also frequents select places in New York City to perform her poetry. During her travels, she has become acquainted with many local poets, comedians, and artists from the tri-state area, including those of the NJ Poetry Renaissance that is based in Long Branch, New Jersey

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Copyright © 2023 by Deanna Outten.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Editors:

Drea Jones/ Melanie Gaudet

Photographer:

Dre Turner

Illustrator:

Mettro

Rev. date: 12/14/2022

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

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Contents

Chapter 1 Let There Be Language (Summer)

Chapter 2 The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From The Tree (Autumn)

Chapter 3 The Mourning After (Winter/ Spring)

Chapter 4 The Fruits of Their Labor (Summer)

Chapter 5 Autumn’s Harvest (Autumn)

Chapter 6 The Last Supper (Winter/ Spring)

Preface

The creation of this project was a spiritual expedition in regaining control of my power. Eve’s voice, as the main character of this story, is the inner dialogue I was having between myself and God. Much like Eve, I was on a quest to seek revenge over those who had wronged me in the past by reaching the plateau of my success.

However, in the end, it all came crumbling down, as it only led to my demise. I was ruthless in my journey to achieve my goals. It didn’t matter who it was going to affect in the end. In my mind, every neck I had broken in the process was going to be repaired with my bare hands, full of the blood I’d collected. On my path to making my dreams come true.

The irony of it all was that my biggest dream in life was to debut my first novel. It wasn’t until I’d completed the story that I realized it was written about me. At first, I thought that because I

was writing a trilogy of the Old and New Testament, I was going to be saving the world. But, that was only a lie I told myself in order to get my revenge.

In the process I’d given away all of my power to those who’d led me on this path. In my efforts to climb to the top of the ladder, I had only reached rock bottom. I humiliated myself online, I had a heart attack, and I destroyed my relationships with the people who were trying to support me. It wasn’t until I had become a complete failure that I was able to regain my power back.

Chapter One

LET THERE BE LANGUAGE

(Summer)

What’s often understood by many, goes unspoken. From the moment you were born, you were taught a language that has separated you from yourself, to communicate with another. There was a period when we didn’t know how to