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 stay with her forever—every time she looks in the mirror.
Her story is so harrowing that it puts our everyday struggles into painful perspective.
Dating an older boy
Just a year before the attack, Kayla was trapped in a toxic and abusive relationship.
Raised by a single mother, she 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 experiencing their first love, she held on to hope when he promised to change.
It was a decision she would 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. In a moment of shocking 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 moment:
“I remember every detail of this moment. The thoughts running through my mind when I opened my camera were very dark, and only seemed to get worse. Sitting in a pool of my own blood, with most of my lip lying on my leg, my whole mouth burning, confused and terrified, I didn’t know how I could ever show my face again. At that point, I honestly wished those seconds would be my last—I wanted to give up completely.”
Wanted to apologize
That October afternoon, Kayla went to see Seth because he said 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 she pulled away, he did something unthinkable—he bit down on her lower lip and tore it off.
Her ex claimed he wanted to leave his mark on her for her next boyfriend.
“He then pulled me out of my own vehicle and slammed the door in my face before taking off and running away from what he had just done. He kept calling me once I was in the ambulance, which felt like forever after having something many women hold dear completely mutilated. I just don’t understand how someone can be filled with that much 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 kept holding on to, again and again.
Doctors rushed to reattach her lip, but the damage was too severe. The tissue couldn’t be saved. Surgeons had to cut into her cheeks just to close the wound.
“I remember waking up and looking at my nurse, who tried to lighten the mood by joking that at least now I wouldn’t have to dress up for Halloween to scare people—that I could go as myself. She laughed softly and nodded, then brought me a mask to cover my face. That’s when it hit me—this was my new reality. What I had just woken up from was no joke. Never again would I wake up living my ‘normal’ life.”
Today, a long scar runs across Kayla’s face—a permanent reminder of that night. For a long time, she blamed herself.
But with time and support, she came to understand the truth: it wasn’t her fault. It was never her fault. And despite everything, she now sees the day she refused to take Seth back as one of the strongest moments of her life. That was the day she took her power back.
She was no longer living to please him—she had reclaimed her life.
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. 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. 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 trapped in toxic relationships, holding on to moments of love and kindness that feel real amid the chaos.
But as Kayla’s story shows, love should never hurt.
If you or someone you know is living in fear or facing threats or violence, please—take the step Kayla did. Choose life. Choose freedom. No one deserves to live in fear.
Share this story to raise awareness. You never know who might need it.
