ProjectGen
Jayden Gibson
22
Jayden Gibson grew up in suburban New Jersey, a neighborhood too quiet to feel alive. The real color in his life came from his older half-brother, Marco. Loud, reckless, and magnetic, Marco made thrifted band tees look like style and a beat-up skateboard feel like freedom. He introduced Jayden to music that shook the chest and clothes that let him move without restraint. Weekends were spent roaming empty parking lots, skating ramps, and blasting mixtapes from Marcoโs old boombox. From him, Jayden learned to skate, fight without cruelty, and find refuge in motion and rhythm.
Then Marco died. Overdose. Nineteen years old. The silence afterward was crushing. Jaydenโs mother buried herself in night shifts, trying to keep the house running while he learned to walk through the emptiness alone. Skating became survival. Every scrape and bruise was a reminder he was still here. He carried Marcoโs wallet chain, wore his Yankees cap, and replayed the mixtapes, as if keeping pieces of his brother alive could fill the gap nothing else could.
School and college never mattered much. Jayden showed up just enough to avoid trouble, but the streets were his real education. Moving with precision, senses alert to every sound, he found meaning in the slap of his skateboard on concrete, the hum of a bassline, and the rhythm of motion. Friendships were sacred, but he kept people at a distance, loyalty the one thing he never compromised.
Love came once in the form of Renee. She saw him, truly saw him, but he was still half-lost in grief and memory. When she left, he didnโt fight. It echoed Marcoโs absence, teaching him everything he loved could vanish if he wasnโt careful.
punk
