We’ve all had moments when life feels heavy — like we’re walking into the wind, and everything seems impossible. But for most of us, those moments eventually pass.

For Kayla Holmes, however, one heartbreaking moment will follow her forever—every time she looks in the mirror.

Her story is so harrowing that it puts our everyday struggles into painful perspective.

Warning: Distressing images below.

Dating an older boy

Just a year before the attack, Kayla was trapped in a toxic and abusive relationship.

Raised by a single mother, Kayla never truly learned what a healthy relationship looked like. At just 17, she was dating an older boyfriend who abused her —physically and emotionally.

“I used to be my attacker’s property. He manipulated me to the point where I almost lost everything and everyone in my life,” she says.

But like many teens in love for the first time, she clung to hope when he promised to change.

It was a decision she will regret for the rest of her life.

Despite the trauma, Kayla still remembers every detail of the day her world changed— October 17, 2017 — as if it happened yesterday.

That day, her ex-boyfriend Seth Aaron Fleury, then 21, couldn’t accept that their relationship was over. And in a moment of monstrous cruelty, he decided that if he couldn’t have her, no one else could either.

In a raw and emotional post shared on Love What Matters, Kayla recalled the terrifying scene:

”I remember every detail of this very moment. The thoughts that ran through my mind when I opened my camera were very dark, which only seemed to worsen. Sitting in a puddle of my own blood with the majority of my lip laying on my leg, my whole mouth on fire, confused and terrified, I didn’t know how I could ever show my face again. At that point, honestly wishing that those very seconds would just be my last — I wanted to give up for good.”

Wanted to apologize

That October afternoon, Kayla had gone to see Seth because he claimed he wanted to apologize for his behavior. She had broken up with him a few weeks earlier, but he believed she was there to reconcile.

When Kayla made it clear she had no intention of getting back together, Seth snapped. He tried to force a kiss. When Kayla pulled away, he did something unthinkable — he bit down on her lower lip and ripped it off.

Her ex claimed he was going to leave his mark on her for her next boyfriend

”He then yanked me out of my own vehicle and slammed the door in my face so he could take off, and run away from what he had just done. He continued to call me once I made it into the ambulance, which felt like a lifetime after having something many women hold precious to them, completely mutilated. I just don’t understand how you could be filled with such anger,” Kayla says.

She has been asked many times why she stayed in a relationship that had become a nightmare. She wants people to understand — it wasn’t always bad. Seth was her first love, and when he was kind, everything felt magical. That’s what she clung to, over and over again.

Doctors rushed to reattach her lip, but the damage was too severe. The torn tissue couldn’t be salvaged. Surgeons had to cut into her cheeks just to stitch the wound closed.

”I remember waking up, looking up to my nurse trying to lighten the air around me, and making a joke about how at least now I wouldn’t have to dress up for Halloween to scare everybody, that I could now go as my self. … She chuckled and nodded then proceeded to bring me to get a mask to cover my face. That was when it hit me; this was my new reality. What I just woke up from was no joke. Never a day in my life will I ever wake up living my “normal” life again.”

Today, a long scar runs across Kayla’s face — a permanent reminder of what happened that night.

For a long time, she blamed herself.

But with time and support, Kayla came to realize the truth: It wasn’t her fault. It was never her fault. And despite the trauma, she now looks back on the day she refused to take Seth back as one of the strongest moments of her life. That was the day she reclaimed her power.

She was no longer someone living to please him. She had taken her life back.

Exactly one year after the attack, on October 18, 2018, Kayla got justice. Seth was sentenced to 12 years in prison for aggravated assault.

Today, Kayla refuses to see herself as a victim. She calls herself a survivor. And she wears her scar with pride — not because it defines her, but because it reminds her of the strength it took to survive.

”I will continue to wear my scars as wings and I will continue to stay kind and stay strong. And I will rise above this,” she says.

Too many people — both women and men — remain stuck in toxic relationships, clinging to the moments of love and kindness that feel real in the middle of the chaos.

But as Kayla’s story shows, love should never hurt.

If you or someone you know is living in fear, facing threats or violence, please—take the step Kayla did. Choose life. Choose freedom. No one deserves to live in fear.

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