I saw this story as I was reading through the newsletter for horror. I'm not a fan of horror, but because of the subject matter for this newsletter, I was curious about what kind of stories would be featured in the newsletter. I have to say, I am very glad I did decide to read this piece.
So many people suffer from a mental illness and their ways of coping with their illness all differ from one another. This story, this character's, coping skills were downright scary and a bit creepy.
You grabbed my attention from the first line and kept it until the very end. Th ending, not what I foresaw happening in my mind beforehand. I half expected him to lay on the bed, in an extasy state, laughing at himself and his love of the thrill he received from this ritual he had with his gun. Your attention to detail had me right there, experiencing this story in front of my eyes as if I had been a fly on the wall in the room.

The only suggestion I would have for this story is that in this line, "and perhaps this was all just a bad dream he’d wakeup from with his old habit coming to his rescue" you need a space between 'wake' and 'up'. Other than that minor technical error, I found nothing else that could make this piece better, in my opinion.
I enjoyed the read and I thank you for sharing this piece with us. As always, please do, Write On!

Midnite