[beyond does not answer - too busy coughing, and something more than that, something panicked. he pushes himself out of the chair with frantic force, away from cassel, gasping for air under the memory of his suicide attempt, the remembered smell of the gasoline and smoke and his burning flesh and hair hung heavy in his singed nostrils. shaking, he braces himself on the nearby porch column, bent over hacking in the struggle to regain the air in his burning lungs and calm his racing heart.]
action.