Chapter 24

Tiffany worries about him, but also scolds him at the same time. Seeing that he's not giving her any sort of answer, she threatens to leave, but he finally moves to hold onto her and keep her there verbally telling her not to go, too. He just looks so broken.
She quickly leans down and makes him promise never to disappear again and quickly worries about him being cold, having spent the night there. She unpacks some hot water and gives it to him so he can get warmed up. Howard first apologies about Laurence wanting to know her situation and seems relieved when he finds out that she's perfectly fine.
Tiffany begins to ask the hard questions, though, wanting to know why he ran away when she called for him. Stumbling at first, Howard slowly begins to reveal that he felt like he was drowning at that time and when he's unable to say the name of the person whose image he saw, Tiffany fills in the name of Victoria explaining that Jeff told her about the last time he disappeared. Howard finally says her name and says that he was really scared because he was the one who hurt her.
Tiffany assures him that it wasn't his fault since it was only an illusion and that what happened back then was an accident. Howard disagrees. He tells her that if he didn't try to be a hero Victoria wouldn't have died.
flashback to three years ago
Howard, kengsington, and Jeff at the beach. Kensington suggests to Howard that he'll take Victoria back since he's the better driver. Howard, not backing down from the challenge, tells Victoria to make a decision. Unable to make one, Jeff suggests that the two duel it out to see whoever is able to take her home. Unwilling to step down from a challenge, the two boys go at each other with kengsington falling, thereby making Howard the winner.
The two( Howard and Victoria) get into a yellow sports car and begin the drive back with Howard speeding. Victoria worries about his speeding but Howard assures her that he's fine since there aren't many cars on the road. However, he quickly loses control when the breaks won't work and drives off of the side of the road and into the ocean. The car quickly sinks with only Howard managing to escape.
Back to present day
Tiffany attempts to comfort Howard who is in tears. She tells him that it was an accident and Victoria, who is in heaven, would want him to live happily and would only want to give him good memories, not nightmares. She also tells him that he's a very brave person in her heart, always facing challenges head on, and asks him to stop blaming himself.
Howard softly asks Tiffany if she'll always stay by his side and never leave him and she quietly nods her head. He further says that he didn't mean to hurt Laurence because she's Tiffany's best friend and that he's afraid because he doesn't want to lose the most important person to him again. Tiffany smiles at him until a spider comes down and interrupts their romantic moment.
She moves to sit right next to Howard who tells her that there are a lot of spiders around because of a certain wild plant but she says she doesn't mind. Their conversation moves on to talk about that flower, whose name doesn't really have a meaning, but Tiffany gives it one, the pursuit of freedom. Howard is satisfied with that name and tells her it fits her as she says that freedom is wonderful.
Having stayed up all night, she quickly falls asleep and seemingly finally content with himself, Howard goes to sleep as well.
Bernice admitted to Andrew that she knows that Howard doesn't like her but that it doesn't matter because she has become too dependent on his kindness over the years. She knows that he only hangs out with her, pretty much, and does anything with her because of the guilt that he feels about her sister's accident. Him feeling like it was all his fault and thereby taking care of her is something that's natural. He felt guilt that Bernice wouldn't have anyone looking after her and took that role upon himself. But for Bernice to continue living like that just in order to be close to Howard …she has to know that it's not healthy. I just hope that she'll be able to come to her senses at some point and actually open her eyes. Who knows, there might be a potential something between her and Andrew.
Howard and his past trauma. His Actions towards water and the name Victoria are now clear to Tiffany, and He was probably feeling some sort of Survivor's guilt, being able to survive While another party passed and Since he was driving the car, he took All of that responsibility onto himself. However, when thinking about it, while Howard was the one who drove the car, there were other factors that played into what happened leading up to the accident. It was kengsington who first said he was going to drive Bernice back and kind of provoke Howard and it was Jeff who suggested that the two duel it out in order to see who won. But as Tiffany pointed out it was an accident.
For Howard, on the other hand, finally being able to admit what happened back then is truly a stepping point in not just his and Tiffany's relationship but also his relationship with himself. He's finally able to admit that yes he was foolish but it was an accident and something that he never wanted to happen. He hearing Tiffany telling him that Victoria wouldn't have wanted him to live his life like that. it seems like all of them have been sort of continuing to live in the past with the guilt eating at them. To have someone come in and tell him that it truly and simply was an accident probably meant more than Tiffany could imagine.
Also, that was pretty close to a confession when Howard told Tiffany that she's an important person and he doesn't want to lose her, even asking if she'll be by his side forever. Howard was so vulnerable in that state that it shows just how much he was affected by the past. Whenever Tiffany, or anyone really, brought up Victoria he would become so defensive because he didn't want to face it. Maybe a bit of him thought he was doing justice to Victoria by not talking about it. Either way it looks like he's going to have to conquer, or at least fake, his fear of water.
With Howard now opening up about his past trauma, it may open the door to the two becoming closer. Victoria's memory was probably hindering Howard from being able to comfortably move on with his life and start a relationship with Tiffany, being close to her. Now that that's all out in the open, But with Bernice still acting like that, despite knowing, it doesn't seem like it'll be anything easy.
Tiffany's comment saying that freedom is wonderful, that's a message both to Howard and to herself. Howard is able to escape from the constraints of the accident and Tiffany was able to escape her sheltered life to be able to discover who she really is. So for both of them, as she said, freedom is wonderful.