I may come off strong.....but it's all I've ever known

It's pure defense.....I put up walls to keep myself distant and avoid the heartache I've known all my life. I've seen so many people turn and walk away and leave me alone, and it hurt so much the first time. I just can't put myself through that once again.
The relationships I have now with people are slow in trusting, but it's still a work in progress. I was deceived very young by the one man that is supposed to love you unconditionally no matter what. He is the man who is supposed to protect you from the cold, cruel world until you are strong enough to face it yourself. He took my  trust with him when he walked from our family when I was only 11. I was thrown into the world way before I was ready and it has shaped me into what I am today. I knew how to take care of myself long before others should know what it feels like. I was responsible for two other lives long before someone at my age should have been.
Do I regret the way my life turned out? Of course not. Granted I had to grow up way to soon, but it showed me what the world was really like instead of being sheltered by parents. I learned to only rely on myself.
I've only had one person break down the many layers of walls I had built around myself. He chose to enter my life and continue to try and get through to me. I owe him so much because he has continued to keep my on the right track. He became like family and the father-figure I was desperately needing without realizing it. I don't know where I would be without him.
So I'm not sure if anybody actually reads this, but I dare you to try and see past all the defensive, scary fronts that I put on....and see the little girl underneath who just wants affection, and just somebody to love her....