Chapter 3: The Gateway to the Garden State
The transition from the manic, concrete frenzy of Manhattan to the sprawling, silent expanse of New Jersey was, for me, akin to being teleported to a different planet. My cousins, David and Sarah, had been my lifeline—the tether I clung to when the city tried to pull me under. They lived in North Brunswick, a place that felt like an elaborate, suburban fever dream. The journey began on a Friday evening, a time I had learned to dread because the entire metropolitan area seemed to simultaneously decide to flee the city. David met me at the edge of the borough in his SUV—a vehicle so large and polished it looked like it was designed to survive a minor nuclear strike. As we merged onto the highway, the city skyline receded in the rearview mirror, shrinking from a titan of glass into a collection of glowing, distant teeth. "You look like you've seen a ghost," David said, his eyes scanning the lanes with the casual confidence of a veteran survivor. "I've seen the...