The Lark Ascending
ShortStory 2,380 words Recommended by 3 award/anthology sources
"They even took the violins. Every last one of them: Amadeus, Josephine, Mulberry, Nestor. They came into the house through the front door, guests without a host, a peculiar band of invited thieves. Plugged into my power station as a seemingly unthreatening household device, I watched them as they ransacked a life."
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
Quasar links out; the story lives on Clarkesworld, where the author gets the click.