BEAUTIFUL

As told to Carrie Stetler | images by Akintola Hanif

Aiesha, 35, was slashed from her abdomen to her face when two female attackers broke into her Newark home, accusing her of sleeping with a man she'd never met. Her six-year-old son witnessed the attack.

It started when the door got kicked in. I was tying my son's shoes and the door hit me in the back. This woman busted in and said, "Are you fucking my husband?'' I said, "Who are you? Who is your husband?" I knocked my son out of the way and told him to lock himself in the bathroom and don't come out. The woman and the other female were hitting me. I thought they were just hitting me, but they were stabbing me.

She was trying to kill me and she probably would have gone after him. I don't know where the strength came from, but I was blessed. I knocked the box cutter out of her hand and I was like, “You really have the wrong person. You really do.'' When they were gone, I snapped back into mommy mode. My son was just staring at me. He was in shock. He said, "Mommy, mommy. You're bleeding.'' The whole side of my face was hanging. You could see the nerves exposed and everything.

I just kept telling him it was alright. I couldn’t feel anything. I didn't know I was stabbed that bad. By the time they got me to the trauma unit, I was all dizzy. I didn't see myself. They covered my face. They didn't want to give me a mirror. They said "I don't think you want to see," and I said, "I do." In my mind I was like, 'This can be fixed. My son is ok. That's all that matters.'

…My son, I can still see the effects of it below the surface. He's still more emotional than usual. He said, "They're going to go to jail for this?'' I said, "Yes." He said, "Is God going to make them pay?'' I said, "Yes.'' He said, "Right now?" I said, "I don't know about right now but you'll be ok.” The other day he came home from school with a page of sentences and one of them said, "My mother keeps me safe no matter what." I was so glad he felt that way.

As for my scar, I don't know if I want plastic surgery. I don't know if I want anyone touching my face. The first two weeks, I didn't go outside. But I put blackseed oil and Neosporin on it every day and it's shrunk a lot. Now, I see it as a battle wound I got for protecting my son. My imperfection is my beauty.