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New Jersey wasn't what Caledonia Stevenson had imagined it to be. She thought it'd be warm all the time, but it was exactly like Scotland: freezing in winter and warm in the summer. She liked it, but she didn't expect it.
It was June when she moved across the pond with her mother and father, who were both renowned surgeons. Tara Stevenson, who specialised in gynaecology, was now in her dream role as Chief Surgeon whilst her husband, Angus, was now a professor at Stockton University teaching trauma and orthopaedic surgery. They'd easily found new jobs in Atlantic City and wasted no time in packing up their possessions and taking their young daughter with them.
Cal didn't adjust easily, though. The house the family now resided in was far bigger than the one back in Edinburgh; it had long hallways, a massive back heard, and spacious rooms that the Stevenson's were quite sure what to do with. Two of the spare rooms eventually became studies, which Cal thought was pointless because her parents were hardly home anyway. She saw the maid more often- a kind, bright-eyed woman from Mexico named Gabriela who treated Cal like one of her own children. In fact, Cal saw her kids- Luis and Adriana- quite often and knew them well as teenagers.
Cal was also bullied at school for a number of reasons: her peculiar name, her funny accent, and her obsessions with human anatomy and music. She was called a freak day-in day-out and was pushed away from all the friendship groups in her class. No-one wanted to know the weirdo who didn't even know that Swedish Fish weren't actual fish.
In times of despair, Cal imagined herself to be like her parents: world renowned medical professionals who were idolised and respected by all. But once her peers and even her tutors expected her to be an exact replica of them, Cal became resentful of her mother and father's reputation. And even more so when she told them face-to-face that she wasn't ever going to touch a surgical scalpel. It created tension, especially between her and her mother, who was a very proud and stern woman, but Cal dismissed it and began to focus on herself.
She attended medical school at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and then received a fellowship in cardiology and intensive care. The few years she spent away from home were the best Cal could have ever hoped for. She had become her own person, refusing to be shadowed by the family name, but she was forever battling with it and it turned her cynical and cold. She soon gained her own reputation as an intelligent yet contentious doctor who never spoke of her past, making her colleagues somewhat frightened of even looking her in the eye. However, she did have a bizarre and dry sense of humour as well as one of those intriguing smirks that one would normally see hen somebody knows something of interest.
This, however, became very reminiscent to some folk of another doctor a little further north. Some speculated that they must have known each other- nobody ends up that sardonic and scornful without first having some sort of influence. And it was true. The time the two spent rubbing shoulders was a time that created a strange negative energy in the universe. They were destined to once again collide like stars.
But isn't it true that two negatives make a positive?
