Mr. Death
ShortStory 5,125 words Recommended by 7 award/anthology sources
"I’ve ferried two hundred and twenty-one souls across the river of death, and I can already tell my two-hundred-and-twenty-second is going to be a real shitkicker. I know by the lightness of the manila folder in my hand, the preemptive pity in the courier’s face as she gives it to me."
Content warnings 3
child-deathdeathdeath-of-a-loved-one
Quasar links out; the story lives on Apex, where the author gets the click.