"I will never like the colour red again."
I sighed, knowing very well that that's what she would say. "Now don't go hating every red thing in existence. Your hair is red, I'm sure you don't hate your hair."
"I guess not, I've always been proud of my red hair. But still," she continued, slumping her shoulders, "It's so different when you think about it that way. I mean, I've never minded blood. But I suppose I haven't seen blood like you have."
"No. You haven't. I've seen horrors your nightmares couldn't conjure up." I didn't bother trying to sugar-coat it, what was the point? "But I've said enough about my tragedies and woes; I'm getting tired of it. Why don't we talk about something else? Or go somewhere? I've got more stories, and with me you can see anything on earth. Even if it is only for a few minutes."
Her eyes widened at the prospect. "Go anywhere? In the whole world, with you? I've always wanted to travel! But where first? I've always wanted to see Hawaii... but then, France is supposed to be really beautiful. And Scotland, where my ancestors are from! But..." She wrinkled her nose in concentration. I chuckled at her cute expression. "Italy."
"Italy?"
"Yes, Italy.
I nodded. "Italy is a good choice. I've always thought their culture to be quite beautiful."
"Oh, me too. That's why I've always wanted to go there! The food, the clothes, the architecture, the people, it's all so fascinating!"
Her child-like eagerness was uplifting. Wanting to fulfil her dream of seeing Italy, I hesitantly stuck out my hands. "Come on then. I'll take you to Italy."
She grasped my hands and stood up. I slowly spun her, so that we had gone around 360 degrees, and the world around us faded away. For a swift moment we were surrounded by a cloudy nothingness, and then everything rematerialized into sight.
I wasn't exactly sure where we were. I had been too distracted to pick a specific location. I knew it was Italy, and I had been hoping for someplace pretty. I certainly wasn't disappointed. Our surroundings slowly came into focus, and we were suddenly in the middle of a beautiful little Italian garden. We were standing on a beige flagstone mosaic, surrounded by dark green bushes and violet and blue flower beds. A stone fountain sat in the corner, trickling with water. Strings of lanterns illuminated the courtyard wonderfully.
"It's just like a fairytale!" she half-whispered.
I nodded, looking around and admiring the location. We appeared to be just outside of a little stone building, perhaps a tiny café. I half wished I could let her try the food, but seeing as how she didn't really have a physical body I knew that wouldn't be an option.
"Thank you so much for bringing me here!"
"It's really no trouble. I get to travel around the world all the time; it's nice to finally have someone here to do it with me."
She gingerly moved over to a little stone half-wall, and slowly stuck out her hand. As if to make sure it was really there, and she wouldn't just fall through it. When her hand did indeed hit the stone, she gave a little excited squeal and hopped up to sit. I made my way beside her, basking in the glow of her happiness. It sounds cheesy, doesn't it? But as you should know by now, that girl was spinning my head around.
I started of the conversation with more confidence than I was accustomed to. "You've heard enough from me, why don't you tell me about yourself a little more?"
She began to pout, protruding her lower lip in a childlike fashion. "But I love hearing your stories!"
"Don't worry, I'll tell you more," I said with a chuckle, "but I would love to hear about you."
