On December 31^st, Zoe Peters, a senior at Osceola Fundamental, published a script for a play she wrote herself. Captivated is a story about a woman named Iris Atkins who was kidnapped by a man named Warren Mitchell. Zoe said, “The name Captivated came from my best friend, Kara Sammetinger, and when she said it, I laughed for 10 minutes, so I picked that as the name.”

She was inspired to write this story as a sort of spin-off of Stockholm, a 2018 movie about a heist in Stockholm, Sweden, in which a man named Jan-Erik Olsson entered a bank in Norrmalmstorg Square and tried to rob it. The police were immediately called, and two officers went inside. One was shot in the hand, and the other was ordered to sit in a chair and sing a song. After this, he took four people hostage. He called the Swedish Prime Minister, Olof Palme, and claimed he would kill the hostages if he was not brought “three million Swedish kronor, two guns, bulletproof vests, helmets, and a fast car,” as well as his friend from prison, Clark Olofsson.

The first instance of Stockholm syndrome in this crisis emerged when the hostages bonded with their captors and tried to protect them, despite the multiple threats on their life. After about five and a half days, police used tear gas to attack the captors, who quickly surrendered. This was made into a movie, in which New York Times called the “origin of Stockholm syndrome.” The story revolves around Iris’ life after the kidnapping, while also showing how it has affected her mentally, emotionally, socially, and physically, as well as showing her visiting her ex-captor in prison and calling him while he’s in prison.

A description of the book on Goodreads reads:

“Boy meets girl. Boy takes girl hostage. They fall in love and live happily ever after…right? Captivated tells the story of Iris and Warren, who carry on a secret correspondence after a crime shakes both of their worlds. Despite what society might think, they are bound together by a promise to build a life together once Warren is let out of prison. In the months after the incident, Iris continues to replay the events in an attempt to calm her mind, calling into question what is real, who to trust, and how to recover.”

Mr. Pace, the director of the theatre program at Osceola, said that Zoe is, as far as he knows, one of “the only students to have published a story, script, or book while at this school.” Captivated is available here on Amazon, and as of right now, it’s only available to read on a Kindle.