Was it Worth the Extra Credit?

It was a dark and stormy afternoon. Mr. Staples's Ecology class was headed outside, despite the gloomy weather. The class squelched through the grass towards the Ecology trail, half-heartedly following their teacher's instructions. One particularly tired student lagged behind, not even pretending to do what Mr. Staples instructed. The teenager walked more slowly than his classmates, choosing to kick up leaves and stare instead of completing the worksheet they had been assigned. He meandered along slowly, lost in thought, as he fell further and further behind the other students. A crunching sound underfoot broke his reverie.
He looked down, and noticed a long, thin, discolored object poking up through the leaves. He picked it up and curiously examined it. It was hard and long, a little longer than his forearm. As he lifted threadbare cloth fell away from it, disintegrating as it hit the ground. The object had piqued his curiosity, and he started to examine it more closely, running his hand down it as he felt a peculiar sense of déjà vu. He was pretty sure he'd seen something like it before. As he rubbed it again, some of the dirt and mold that had accumulated on it came off on his hand, revealing a hard white surface. The realization suddenly dawned on him and the student dropped the object in terror as he realized what it was. He looked down and saw similar objects around him and screamed as loudly as he could when he realized he was standing in the middle of a human skeleton.

The students in the class turned in surprise when they heard the scream. No one rushed to the boy's aid or even seemed particularly worried as he tore through the trees and bushes towards them. When he arrived only a few of them were mildly curious; most had turned back to their phones or had resumed their conversation when the student arrived in the clearing.
"Guys! I - I... There was ..." He stuttered in panic. He stopped when he realized no one was paying any attention to him. Catching his breath and gathering himself, he walked quickly over to Mr. Staples, who was staring intently at a dead leaf.

"Mr. Staples, I ... I just found a skeleton," the student said, trying to remain calm.

"Oh yes we saw that already," Mr. Staples replied, still focused on his leaf. "We determined that it was a female rabbit."

"No! Mr. Staples, this was a human skeleton. It was big! I know it was not a rabbit!" the student replied, starting to become panicked again.

Mr. Staples looked up slowly. "Boy, are you sure that's what you saw?"

"Yes, yes I know it was! Just come look it won't take long." The student pleaded. He hoped his teacher was right, that he had overreacted over some strangely colored sticks, but in the back of his mind he knew what he'd seen.

"Fine, I'll come," Mr. Staples answered, evidently irritated. "This better not take long. I gotta get back to my leaf rubbings."

Mr. Staples and a few curious students followed the anxious boy. He led them toward the bush where he had found the bones, wishing desperately that they would walk faster. When they found the spot, the students and Mr. Staples looked down to where the boy pointed. In front of them was arrayed many long, thin, whitish objects like the one the boy had picked up. They were definitely human bones, though it was not a complete skeleton as it was missing the skull and some leg bones and ribs. The students stared in shock, and a few turned away, nauseated. The rest of the class had been watching curiously through the woods, just in case something interesting happened, and they hurried over when they realized the boy was right.

Mr. Staples looked down, surveying the area slowly. He took so long that the students began to wonder if he had fallen asleep, until finally he looked up. "Students," he began slowly, "now, this is a human skeleton ... but don't be afraid. It's probably from an old grave. So I have a question ... how many of you in this class would like to raise your grade?"

There was a beat of silence as the students stared in surprise at the absurd question. Choosing to obey rather than ask questions, two students raised their hands, followed tentatively by more and more until about half of the class had their hands raised. "Well this is an opportunity," Mr. Staples said in response to their raised hands. "I will give you 10 points extra credit on your next test if you simply touch this here skeleton."

The students looked at each other in shock, wondering what to do in response to this proposition. Did they need the extra credit that badly? But then again, how bad could touching a skeleton be? After a few minutes of unsure silence, one brave soul stepped up. She bent down slowly and tentatively touched one of its rib bones, then backed away quickly, looking vaguely proud and sickened at the same time. She was soon followed by another student, then another, until every student had stepped up and touched a bone quickly, even the ones who didn't need the extra credit. When they were done the students looked around at one another, unsure once again of what to do.

Mr. Staples was gone, presumably to finish his leaf rubbings, and going back to the long worksheet they had to finish seemed unbearably boring after they had all just touched a human skeleton.

A breeze blew by, bringing with it a rancid odor as if something dead was nearby. The temperature dropped suddenly, too, and the class shivered and pulled their jackets tighter around them. The breeze blew again, and this time it seemed to carry voices whispering from far-off. The students looked wide-eyed at each other, wondering if everyone had heard the creepy sounds. Following the breeze, a dark cloud filled the sky, and it suddenly occurred to all of the students how spooky the setting was. They all uneasily stepped back, suddenly less proud that they had touched the bones and more fearful.

A rustle sounded close to them, and then what sounded like a large animal passed close behind the group. A student screamed and they all suddenly took off running in fear, dropping pencils and binders as they sprinted towards the school. By the time they got to the doors of the school they realized they had overreacted to what was a probably a squirrel in a bush, and they shuffled around embarrassedly until someone came and opened the doors. They walked slowly towards their classroom, trying to appear cool, as if they hadn't all just run in fear of their lives because they heard an animal moving around in a forest.

The students who were first to the classroom were greeted with a rotten smell, the same bad odor they had smelled outside. The room was also much colder than the hallway; in fact it was almost as cold as the temperature outside. As they walked in they thought they heard whispers in the corner, the same voices from the woods, but this was not what made them stop dead in their tracks.

There in the middle of the room was Mr. Staples. Or rather, Mr. Staples's body. It was hung from the ceiling by a rope tied around its neck. Blood flowed freely down his body, and scrawled in the blood at his feet were the words: Was it worth the extra credit?