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One Year Later — Remembering Auston

October 17th.
A date that’s burned into my heart.

It’s hard to believe it’s been a year.
One whole year since that night — since everything changed. Around this time, I heard the sound that made my heart stop. Auston had fallen from his bunk. I didn’t see it happen, but I’ll never forget what came after — the silence, the panic, the helplessness that filled the room. There are some moments you can never unhear, never unfeel, and that one will stay with me for the rest of my life.

I remember the chaos. The fear. The way time stopped, and all I could do was hope it wasn’t real. They took him away, and then came the silence — days of not knowing anything, of praying that maybe, somehow, he’d be okay. But on Sunday, October 20th, I got the confirmation I’d been dreading. Auston was gone.

It doesn’t feel like a year has passed. Some days it feels like it just happened. Other days, it feels like a lifetime ago — like the world has moved on, but I’m still standing there, staring at the floor, wishing I could go back and change what happened.

But this year, I don’t just want to sit in the pain. I want to honor the person Auston was.
He wasn’t just another inmate, or another story people forget. He was my friend. He was funny, smart, kind-hearted, and misunderstood. He was human — and he deserved better.

Through the Auston Stewart Foundation, I’m trying to make sure his story doesn’t fade into silence. His name stands for those who never got the chance to live freely again, for those who were failed by the system, for those whose lives ended behind bars when they never should have been there to begin with.

So tonight, as I sit here one year later, I’m remembering Auston not for how he died, but for how he lived — for who he was, and for the light he still shines through everything we’re building in his memory.

Happy Birthday, Auston.
You’re not forgotten. You never will be.

In loving memory of Auston Stewart (1993 – 2023).
Forever 31. šŸ•Æ️

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If you’d like to help carry on Auston’s legacy, please visit gofundme.com/f/AustonStewartFoundation.
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