can't perform run dev

issue when running npm on the command line. some housekeeping questions out of the way: i am on a fully functioning test server running centos7

node -v yields v6.17.1

I also thought i had boinked things by installing yarn incorrectly, as can sometimes happen - but I removed yarn and made sure to use yum to add it back. i also removed nodejs and npm entirely and then added npm back. I then removed the testing app i was tinkering with in laravel and then added it back. starting from scratch! running the the command npm run dev yields a very long error -

are there some commands I can use to clean out npm? does anyone know what would cause this?

the error:

@ dev /home/frog/domains/websockets.frog.aeonmedia.com/public_html/websockets npm run development

@ development /home/frog/domains/websockets.frog.aeonmedia.com/public_html/websockets mix

/home/frog/domains/websockets.frog.aeonmedia.com/public_html/websockets/node_modules/laravel-mix/bin/cli.js:12 async function run() { ^^^^^^^^

SyntaxError: Unexpected token function at createScript (vm.js:56:10) at Object.runInThisContext (vm.js:97:10) at Module._compile (module.js:549:28) at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:586:10) at Module.load (module.js:494:32) at tryModuleLoad (module.js:453:12) at Function.Module._load (module.js:445:3) at Module.runMain (module.js:611:10) at run (bootstrap_node.js:394:7) at startup (bootstrap_node.js:160:9)

npm ERR! Linux 3.10.0-1160.6.1.el7.x86_64 npm ERR! argv "/usr/bin/node" "/usr/bin/npm" "run" "development" npm ERR! node v6.17.1 npm ERR! npm v3.10.10 npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE npm ERR! @ development: mix npm ERR! Exit status 1 npm ERR! npm ERR! Failed at the @ development script 'mix'. npm ERR! Make sure you have the latest version of node.js and npm installed. npm ERR! If you do, this is most likely a problem with the package, npm ERR! not with npm itself. npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system: npm ERR! mix npm ERR! You can get information on how to open an issue for this project with: npm ERR! npm bugs npm ERR! Or if that isn't available, you can get their info via: npm ERR! npm owner ls npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request: npm ERR! ........websockets/npm-debug.log

npm ERR! Linux 3.10.0-1160.6.1.el7.x86_64 npm ERR! argv "/usr/bin/node" "/usr/bin/npm" "run" "dev" npm ERR! node v6.17.1 npm ERR! npm v3.10.10 npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE npm ERR! @ dev: npm run development npm ERR! Exit status 1 npm ERR! npm ERR! Failed at the @ dev script 'npm run development'. npm ERR! Make sure you have the latest version of node.js and npm installed. npm ERR! If you do, this is most likely a problem with the package, npm ERR! not with npm itself. npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system: npm ERR! npm run development npm ERR! You can get information on how to open an issue for this project with: npm ERR! npm bugs npm ERR! Or if that isn't available, you can get their info via: npm ERR! npm owner ls npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request: npm ERR! ......websockets/npm-debug.log