Deciphering the Brickwork

Staying cooped up indoors loses its charm fast. Slipping through the narrow gap of the cracked patio door, I stepped onto the cold concrete. The morning sun was already angling across the opposite brick wall, illuminating a sprawling spray-painted mural I had never noticed from the desk. Interlocking geometric serpents and sharp metallic lettering coiled across two stories of aged mortar. I hooked my boot against the bottom rung of the wrought-iron railing and leaned in close to evaluate the lines. Whoever tagged that wall knew how to weave a cipher into plain sight. It took only five minutes of tracking the spray angles before the hidden pattern resolved itself.