Words cannot express how relieved I was when that last chapter got ridiculous enough it HAD to be a fantasy. Although I will say that, imo, the level of mindfuckery there doesn't exactly fit with how slow and understated your other chapters are; it does stand nicely on its own though. I don't really see what place it has in the rest of the story, either, unless there is something critical involving Sniper and you just had to establish him as a smarmy creeper early on?