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Cleveland Kidnappings: 'How We Survived'

Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus in this week's WHO

Two years after being rescued from a decade-long nightmare, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus appreciate the little things in life. “I love when the sun is hot and beaming,” says Berry. DeJesus enjoys “being able to get in your car, go to the mall ...”

Kidnapped in 2003 and 2004 respectively by bus driver Ariel Castro, Berry and DeJesus and a third victim, Michelle Knight, were kept in chains, denied food and raped repeatedly by Castro in his house in Cleveland, Ohio before the dramatic escape that captured the world’s attention in May 2013.

In an exclusive interview with WHO, the women, who have written a new book, Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland, open up about their nightmare and the unquenchable hope that kept them going.

“You had to stay positive, because if you didn’t there was no reason to survive it,” says Berry, who is raising Jocelyn, 8, the daughter Castro fathered during their captivity.

To help them survive their ordeal, the women had daily rituals. “I would just constantly stay busy,” says Berry, 29. Adds DeJesus, 25: “I would sew and listen to music and draw and dance.”

But nothing could allay their fear of Castro. “People see him as chubby, but he was a lot of muscle,” says Berry. “To be around him was scary. He had these cold black eyes. We were afraid we were going to die.”

For more on Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus’s story and an exclusive extract from their book, pick up a copy of WHO, on sale now.