Summary

Chapter One: "Matthew" starts in New Jersey, 2020 as Matthew plays Zelda. Due to Covid, he is stuck at home with his mother and grandmother, GG. His mom takes his Nintendo Switch and demands he go outside. He does so begrudgingly and thinks about happy days with his Dad. As he pretends to fight a monster, he accidentally hits a can GG is holding. He apologizes, but his mother grounds him from the Switch for longer. Instead, she wants him to help GG unpack her boxes.

Chapter Two: "Mila" shifts to Ukraine in 1932. Dasha and Papa take care of the narrator Lyudmila (Mila for short), as her mother died 12 years ago during childbirth. Mila finds an envelope and thinks it is an invitation. Instead, it contains lice which her dad quickly kills and says was sent by the enemy to infect them with typhus...