An illusion of change can sometimes be more devastating than the actual change itself.

What it does is lull you into a sense of security. You rebel in the beginning but then you train yourself to get used to the change. And when you are finally used to it and have let your guard down and accepted it in its entirety, that's when the illusion fails. Like a reflection in a pond, disturbed by the slightest movement, the illusion caves in.

And that is when you see that what you grew to believe was nothing but a shadow, a lie. Nothing really changed. The illusion was just too strong, too beguiling, too seductive. And you were taken in. A lamb to slaughter. A willing participant to your own destruction.

Mute. Cooperative. Hopeful.

Change can be a cruel mistress. Its illusion, even more so.