NPM start 'cannot find module' - node.js

Question

When I try the command npm start the console runs npm install and returns this error:
> npm#6.4.1 prepare C:\Users\Aristophanes
> node bin/npm-cli.js --no-audit --no-timing prune --prefix=. --no-global && rimraf test/*/*/node_modules && make -j4 doc
internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:589
throw err;
^
Error: Cannot find module 'C:\Users\Aristophanes\bin\npm-cli.js'
at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:587:15)
at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:513:25)
at Function.Module.runMain (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:760:12)
at startup (internal/bootstrap/node.js:308:19)
at bootstrapNodeJSCore (internal/bootstrap/node.js:878:3)
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! npm#6.4.1 prepare: `node bin/npm-cli.js --no-audit --no-timing prune --prefix=. --no-global && rimraf test/*/*/node_modules && make -j4 doc`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the npm#6.4.1 prepare script.
npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.
Full log: https://www.dropbox.com/s/de0369plkz8w2ir/2018-11-10T07_56_03_314Z-debug.log?dl=0
Can anyone explain the Cannot find module 'C:\Users\Aristophanes\bin\npm-cli.js' error? In the directory C:\Users\Aristophanes\bin\ I only have these files:
create-react-native-app
create-react-native-app.cmd
The npm-cli.js file it's looking for is actually located in C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-cli.js
Does anyone have a suggestion to fix this? Thanks.