Alright, this is where the story really starts. For those who didn't notice, Gwen is the main character in this, and I'm sorry for not really clarifying it in the prologue. And also, for those who didn't see the extra note I added a day or so ago, I know the prologue didn't make a lot of sense, but that was basically the point of it. Check it out for yourself because I'm just too lazy to post it here, lol.

In the meantime, enjoy this chapter.

xx

Part One – Refuge

I wasn't going to get away with just getting out of the mansion and having nowhere to live. I wanted to leave, but I didn't know what I'd do once I was out. At least I did have a decent bed for a few days.

xx

Chapter One – Simpleton's Escape Route

I wouldn't have even picked what would have been happening three years from then. And I definitely wouldn't have expected something to happen in the middle of the night, while I was just about asleep.

"Psst!" A voice hissed.

Once. I just brushed it aside.

"Psssst!"

Twice. I pulled my pillow out from under me and threw it over top of my head. As if that did anything.

"C'mon Gwen, don't be a lazybones! Izzy's got something exciting!"

That made me bolt up to a sitting position as I looked around for the voice. The darkness didn't help much, especially since my room had thick black curtains. I then looked to my left, noticing the open door. The hallway lights had been dimmed right down tonight, but they gave enough for me to see a strangely familiar figure outlined in the doorway. I could have said many things, but three words came out of my mouth. "Are you crazy?"

There was no answer as the door quietly closed, and a torch light was turned on. The first thing I saw was a female face framed by wildly curly ginger hair, the torch positioned just below her chin. "I might be." She said quietly, laughing.

"Izzy, it's the middle of the night. How did you get away from security?" I asked, swinging my legs round to the side of the bed.

Izzy just slowly walked closer, shining the torch on the floor so she could see. "Izzy will tell you when we make the great escape!" She hissed, grinning wickedly.

I hadn't once thought of getting out of this place. Sure, I hated it with a burning passion. In fact, I was pretty sure all the girls here did. And if almost a year of living in a mansion with hawkeyed security guards, along with scheduled (and pretty much forced) sex with a self-centred jerk thrice weekly, among other things, didn't get to them, then all I could think of is they were just accepting of their fate, however long they'd be here for.

"How? And… why me?"

"Oh, I dunno, was snooping around outside the other day, and at one point Izzy overheard you saying that you wanted to get out of this place." Izzy said with a shrug. "And Zoey's gonna come too!"

I was still half asleep, but a million things were running through my mind right then. If I was to escape, then how would I do it? I was sure Izzy had some sort of sneaky escape route dug out somewhere, but once I was out in the open, what was next from there?

I wanted to say no. The idea of finally leaving this place was almost like a dream come true, but it also sounded ridiculous. Whatever happened, I felt sure that one of the security guards would rock on up and drag us back inside. But of course that wasn't what came out. "I'm in." I said, mentally kicking myself for being so stupid.

Izzy then had the biggest grin as she shone the torch up to the roof, and leapt up and down a couple of times. "Awesome!" She said, stepping back to the door once she'd calmed down. "I've got some stuff out here for you!"

I could only remain silent as Izzy slowly opened the door and peeked out, then bending down to grab something. After staring into space for a few seconds, something soft hit me in the face, followed by another thing.

"There's shoes by the door!" Izzy hissed before slinking out, darting off to the right.

Standing up, I picked up the two soft things – which looked to be a black tank top and black leggings. Of course, I wouldn't get away with wearing my skimpy nightgown that I was provided with a few days after my arrival.

Five minutes passed, and I had changed into the clothes Izzy gave me, along with a pair of high top black chucks. I waited inside my room, having shut the door slightly so no one really suspected anything. Especially not the security guard that was just two corners away. I kept on wondering how the heck Izzy managed to weasel herself in, even with cameras just about all over the place.

With the little light that I had in the room, I slowly walked over to my small dresser, looking around for anything that I could be able to take. I half-blindly reached my hand out, and grabbed the first thing that I touched. It felt very much like a book – it was my diary. Probably the most important thing to take.

I would also need a bag, because I knew that I'd be taking more than just my diary. So I pulled out a simple dark blue drawstring bag from the open drawer. Next thing I grabbed was a large water bottle, which was still pretty full. Two chocolate bars – it wouldn't do much if I was all of a sudden starving, but it was the only food I had.

There was only one item left on the top of my drawers – my bunny ears. I picked them up and stared at them blankly for several seconds before putting them back down. There was no way I was leaving with any reminders of this place.

A beam of faint light shone into the room, and I looked to the door, which was once again open, and Izzy was standing outside. "You ready?" She asked.

Not at all. I had no idea what I was doing, no idea how we were getting out, and no idea what I was going to do next once I got to the city. "Guess so." I said in reply.

"Coolios! Izzy's gonna be waiting in the empty bedroom!" Izzy gave me a thumbs up before going back out.

Empty bedroom? I assumed that it had something to do with how Izzy got into the mansion. But soon enough, it hit me like a speeding bullet. A fire escape ladder went from that balcony down to about six feet off the ground. And knowing Izzy, she would have swung herself onto it from… somewhere. Of course it would be there.

I grabbed a hair tie from the nightstand and quickly pulled my chocolate brown hair into a low bun, just as the door pushed open again. I turned to face it, expecting Izzy to come in, but instead I saw Zoey, dressed in a similar outfit to mine with her long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Gwen?" She whispered. "I'm not sure if I can do this. It's just… I don't know."

I looked away and sighed – I was feeling much the same. "I know, I am too." I told her, shrugging. "It sounds crazy, but I also wouldn't mind getting out of this place, so I guess I'm just going with it, even if I don't want to."

Zoey was silent for a minute, just standing in the doorway with her hands clasped together. She looked up at the roof before stepping back. "Maybe…" She said slowly. "Let's… go into the empty bedroom now."

I pulled tight the strings on my bag and threaded my arms through, then following Zoey out. We went down a couple of doors to an unlabelled one – unlike all the other rooms, which had a girl's name on it, this one was bare. Izzy's former residence.

I reached out for the door handle, and turned it as slowly and quietly as possible. Then I pushed it open, a sudden blast of air catching me off guard.

Izzy was standing next to the open balcony door, turning to face us once the door opened. "Someone take this!" She hissed, waving the torch around.

Looking back at Zoey, who was staring at the ground, I walked forward and took the torch. "Then what do you want me to do?" I asked.

Izzy tiptoed outside, quickly motioning for me to follow. "Shine it on the ladder!" She said, pointing to her left.

Maintaining my grip on the torch, I walked out onto the balcony, turning to the right side and pointing the beam straight ahead. A set of rungs immediately became visible, and as soon as they did, Izzy swung herself over the railing, landing nimbly on the first and second rung.

"Is it far?" Zoey asked, slowly walking out.

"It's right there actually, so... no, not far at all." I replied, briefly gesturing to the ladder.

A bird call suddenly echoed out, and I moved the torch to light up the lower part of the ladder. Izzy was waiting at the very bottom, pulling a thumbs up and grinning. She then gestured for me to drop the torch down.

"Drop it?" I exclaimed, still keeping my voice as quiet as possible.

"Izzy's gonna catch it!" Izzy said.

I looked at the torch, sighed, and reached my arm out, letting it slip from my hand. I stepped back and waited for a smash, but all I heard was the skidding of feet on tar seal. The bright beam was shone back up at the ladder before long. I was next.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled myself up onto the railing, letting my feet dangle just above the ladder.

"Be careful." Zoey whispered from behind.

I looked back at her and eventually shrugged, turning back to face the ladder. "I guess if Izzy can do it, then so can we." I replied, placing one foot on the top rung.

"Okay…"

Looking around for something to hold onto, I gripped onto the small ledge that was a couple of feet above the ladder, and slid off the balcony. My heart skipped a beat as I started to lose my balance, but I managed to steady myself in a matter of seconds. I turned my gaze to the ladder and slowly stepped down to the next rung, moving my hand to prop myself up against the wall. As I lowered myself down to the third, both of my hands moved to take a hold of the first – they were all widely spaced out, so it wasn't hard to do. It was straightforward from there – keep on climbing down until I reached the bottom. That was when I stopped.

"How do I get down from this?" I asked, looking down at Izzy, who was patiently waiting by a large potted plant next to the ladder.

"Jump down!" She replied simply with a grin.

"Are you serious? I could break my ankle doing that… or my leg… or something, but there's no way I can do that without hurting myself."

"Then you could hang from the bottom rung like a monkey!"

That I hadn't thought of. But right then, it was that or nothing. So I pretty much curled up into a ball whilst having my hands and feet on the rung at the same time. I then let my legs hang loose, and quickly looked around before letting go and landing on the ground safely. Despite the bottom rung being six feet off the ground, my height made up for five foot four of it, which turned it into a simple jump.

"Two down, one to go." Izzy said with a quiet cackle, moving the torch beam back up to the top of the ladder. "Hey, where'd she go?"

"Where'd who go? Zoey?" I asked, looking up to the balcony – and of course, Zoey was nowhere in sight. "I… would have no idea."

Right after, Zoey poked her head out from the balcony, and she looked to be sad. "I'm sorry… I just can't do this." She said, shaking her head. "I can't."

"Aw, come on, you'll never regret it!" Izzy replied, running over to the ladder.

"No… I can't come… it's too risky."

"Zoey, if you don't want to end up like Bridgette, then come with us." I told her, feeling a pang in my heart as I mentioned my old friend's name. "I don't know where she is now, but I bet she's feeling a lot better since she left three months ago. Besides, you've only had to take part a couple of times, but that's just because of that disgusting stomach flu that went around the mansion."

Zoey was silent, almost as if she was thinking long and hard about all this. I could sort of understand where she was coming from – I wasn't feeling much different either. But it was my one chance, and I had to take it. "Okay… I'll come." She said after several unusually long minutes

I sighed with what felt like relief – I wasn't exactly sure if it was a good thing, but I did know that I wouldn't be going it alone, not counting Izzy.

"Yeah, let's do this!" Izzy cheered quietly, leaping up and down in excitement.

I looked up as Zoey slowly moved from the balcony railing to the top rung, a bit more hesitant than I was. "It's not hard once you're properly on the ladder." I said as a few words of encouragement.

Zoey seemed to pick up the pace a little bit, and before long she was climbing down the ladder. "What do I do next?" She asked once she reached the bottom.

"Just jump from there!" Izzy replied. "You saw what Gwen did, right?"

"Um... yeah, I did."

"Then go for it!"

Zoey didn't move for a few seconds, but eventually she reached down for the bottom rung, and let her legs slide off. She let go, and landed on the ground with a slight wobble afterwards.

"Awesome!" Izzy said with a grin. "Now follow Izzy!"

I opened my mouth to ask where we were going next, but Izzy was already lightly running down the path. I had no choice but to follow her. So I took off at a jog, trying to keep my steps as quiet as possible. I turned the corner around to the side of the mansion, and stopped once I saw Izzy waiting by the brick and iron wrought fence.

"There's a gate here!" She hissed, pointing to a part of the fence which looked pretty ordinary.

I slowly walked closer, and noticed that the iron section Izzy was standing by was smaller than all the others - it was pretty obvious from that point on.

"There's only bedrooms on this side of the mansion... and they're not in use at the moment..." I said quietly as I stopped a few feet away from the fence and Izzy. "There'll be only a couple of cameras around that area… so that will be why nobody knows about it."

"Not even the security guards." Izzy giggled, then stepping to her left and looking ahead. "Here's Zoey!"

I looked over my shoulder to see Zoey walking closer, her hands clasped together behind her. I heard a slight clicking sound, and turned around to see that Izzy had opened the gate.

"This way!" She said, slowly backing out.

Quickly looking back at Zoey, I took a deep breath and walked out of the mansion grounds, putting force into my step. I was actually leaving, without telling anyone else. It almost seemed surreal. And I had thought it would be some sort of elaborate exit, which Izzy had somehow made.

I stopped once I felt myself stepping onto a slightly steep surface – the pavement running along the side of the road. I looked back at the mansion, just as Zoey slowly made her way out.

"This place really needs to improve on its security." I remarked, snickering at the thought.

"Hahaha, I know, right?" Izzy chuckled before walking over to the gate and gently pulling it shut. "Alright… Izzy's new house isn't far from here, so we just walk."

"It's not far?" Zoey exclaimed. "How did you… get here then, if you're living so close?"

"Oh, it's just around a couple of street corners and all that, but you can't see it from the mansion at all!"

"Wow… well that's great!"

"Now let's get outta here!" Izzy bounded off down the pavement, doing a couple of cartwheels along the way.

I looked up at the stars, then back over my shoulder at my former home, which I hadn't really resided in for that long. And to think that I was a little bit excited about coming here at the beginning of the year.

"Gwen, are you coming?" Zoey asked.

I stared at the mansion for several seconds, unable to hold back the huge smile that was forcing its way onto my face. "Yeah, I'm coming." I replied, stepping back a few feet before opening my mouth to say one last thing. "So long, Playboy mansion. Hope you… don't miss us." I declared, turning around to jog after Izzy, Zoey quickly following.

xx

So I'm hoping it's… at least starting to make sense now. Gwen's just escaped the Playboy mansion, where she'd been for… about eight or nine months, and is off to Izzy's apartment.

That aside, do tell me if you're confused by any aspects of the fic, and I'll get back to you and maybe try and fix it.

Until next time!