Chapter Text
She sat at the bus stop with nothing more than the coat on her back and a pound in her purse the night she left her husband. That was the night Rachel Slater died and was reborn Raquel Turner.
Roy had been at work when she left a scribbled note on the kitchen table. It had been her chance, one chance of being free from him. On paper he had seemed everything a woman could want. A good job, ambitious, offer of a comfortable life.
She not been like the other wives of coppers she had been glad that he worked a lot. Because when Roy was home he was cruel and a bully. He never hit her. Sometimes she had wished he would because people understood a woman leaving a man who hit her.
They less understanding of the damage they can't see. Roy had destroyed her confidence that was the first thing he wore down to nothing. He made sure she had no friends, no money.
In their home he was God. If she cooked a meal he didn't like he'd punish her by putting so much salt on hers that each mouthful would make her want to throw up. Raquel had accidentally burnt his shirt with an iron once and he had cut up all her clothes. He wouldn't buy her more for weeks.
Roy Slater demanded perfection and when she failed to deliver that he made it sound so reasonable when he dished out punishment. It clicked in her head it wasn't normal when she lying in bed wishing not to wake up