Vince looks at Rody's corpse, freshly killed by his own hands, then at the girl he's forced back into the freezer room. The terrorized, soot-covered girl. The 14-year-old girl who claims to be from the future.
"Why?" She said, trembling. "Why did you kill him?"
"Because he was mine!"
"What? I don't understand."
"I love him! And all he could think of was that tramp Manon..."
"Manon? You... killed her too?"
"What do you think? He should have eaten her, but he didn't."
"Eat her?"
"Do I really have to explain everything?"
Vince sighs. He has a bloody knife in his hand. He could kill the girl at any moment. Still, he explains that he can't taste anything and, by eating his love Rody, his problem would be solved.
"But... this is madness!" Retorts the girl. "If you love Rody... why kill him? Why would you eat him?" She takes a kind of headband with a transparent crystal that she wore around her neck and puts it on her forehead. "I am Alana. I'm training to be a healer. I can fix your taste problem. It must be a neurological blockage."
Vince listens then starts laughing. A demented laugh that makes Alana even more uncomfortable.
"Really? Do you think I buy your stories that you're from the future?"
"But I'm telling you the truth!" She says to Vince. "Pj," she then said to her soot-covered purple bracelet, "project a hologram."
Vince tries to remain stoic but is impressed by the Earth hologram PJ is projecting.
"You see? With my Transducer, I can cure you, but you have to lie down... and it's very cold here. Can we go somewhere else?"
Vince sighs again and lowers his knife. If this Alana can really give him the ability to taste, what has he got to lose? He's already killed Rody. His Rody. The master chef leaves the bloody knife behind and leads the girl out of the freezer room to his apartment. There, she looks around, impressed by everything she sees.
"Hey!" Vince said curtly. "This way."
He takes her to his room. Vince lies down on his bed.
"And now?" He asks Alana.
"Just relax. Don't think about anything."
"Easy for you to say."
Alana sighs. She focuses and her Transducer crystal turns pink. A pink projection forms from the crystal to Vince. To his head, to be more precise.
"What's going on?" Vince asks Alana.
"Stay calm. I'm looking for the source of the problem in your brain."
"What? You're in my brain?"
"No, not directly, but my Transducer can manipulate the conduits..."
Vince doesn't understand a word she says after that. It sounds like science-fiction medicine. After what seems like an eternity, the pink projection disappears. Alana's pink Transducer crystal becomes transparent again.
"It’s done." She said weakly.
Vince gets up from his bed.
"Is it done?"
"Yes. I'm exhausted."
Wanting to find out for sure, Vince goes to his fridge to get something to eat. As soon as the first bite is in his mouth, he spits it out. Not because it doesn't taste good. On the contrary, because he can taste it. Vince can taste. He. Can. Taste. He eats the whole thing at lightning speed. Vince gets more food. He eats and drinks until he makes himself sick. As he's throwing up in his bathroom, he hears Alana calling him.
"Is everything all right?"
He turns to her. He looks at her, then rage, hatred, madness fills his mind.
"Why?" He asks her.
"Why...?"
"Why didn't you arrive sooner?"
"What?"
Vince leaps on top of her and his hands squeeze her neck.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU ARRIVE SOONER?"
Had she arrived earlier, Vince wouldn't have killed Manon, Vince wouldn't have killed Rody. Rody, his love. Alana struggles, but Vince is much bigger, much stronger than she is. Rody and Vince would be happy together. Alana suffocates quickly. Vince finds himself alone. Alone, with the body of the girl from the future in his bathroom and the body of his love in the freezer room.
"Alana, are you alright?" Suddenly says an electronic male voice.
It came from Alana's purple bracelet. PJ.
"Alana?" PJ asks again.
Alone? No. Vince takes the bracelet in his hands.
"Good evening, PJ. I'm Vincent."
"Good evening, Vincent. I have no answer from Alana."
"That's because she's dead. I killed her."
PJ doesn't answer him. Not yet.
"You need to turn yourself in to the authorities, Vincent."
"I might do that."
He doesn't. Vince gets rid of the bodies. He continues his career as a master chef. He keeps PJ as a confidant. Every time Vince eats, tastes something, he sees Manon, Alana and his beloved Rody. They haunt him incessantly. It's his punishment for what he's done. It’s what he deserves.