CHAPTER ONE The vanishing monsters hunt our dreams in the daylight
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IN THE BELLY of New York City's urban sprawl, the subway system pulsates like a labyrinth network of steel veins. The underground platforms, bathed in the ambient glow of harsh fluorescent lights, echo with the symphony of screeching brakes and the distant hum of approaching trains. Commuters, like hurried ants in an intricate colony, swarm through turnstiles and rush down narrow stairwells, their collective energy a pulsating heartbeat beneath the city.
The air, thick with a blend of metallic tang and fleeting whiffs of street vendors' offerings, carries the hushed conversations of diverse voices. Graffiti-clad tunnels reveal glimpses of the city's rebellious spirit, while advertisements flicker like fleeting dreams along the speeding train cars. As subway doors slide open and shut with mechanical precision, a transient cast of characters shares this subterranean stage – a microcosm of New York's vibrant tapestry, where each station, like a chapter, tells a story of its own.
A teenage boy stood amongst the sea of ants that sprawled around trying to get to their destination. He held a guitar case in hand, a backpack on his back, with headphones blaring music into his ears. He walked trying to avoid the crowds as he walked out of the subway station into the urban part of New York and immersing himself in the rhythm of the city. He walks briskly through the bustling streets after school, navigating the sea of people and honking cars. Tall buildings surround him as he passes the usual street vendors.
