8. The Girl Who Learned to Strike First​

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When the world felt unsafe,
when love was unpredictable,
when the people she needed
were careless with her heart,

she sharpened herself.

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She hardened her voice into a weapon.
She built her independence into a fortress.
She learned to survive
not by hiding
but by taking control.

 

If she sensed rejection coming,
she ended things before they ended her.
 

If affection turned cold,
she turned colder.
 

If someone hesitated,
she walked away without looking back.

 

She became the girl no one could touch
by becoming the girl no one could see too deeply.

 

Tenderness was locked away
with the trembling child
she swore she would never be again.

 

Yet inside her ribs
she still carried
that small girl
who once reached out
softly, shyly
and was met with only emptiness.

 

But all her fire
was born from the fear
of being left.