On the way into the cave, the boys and Coach Ek stopped to bow and pay their respects at a shrine to Jao Mae Nang Non, the Sleeping Lady. She is a princess from an ancient story for whom the cave is named. Then the boys stepped inside Tham Luang’s impressive entrance chamber. They breathed in the smell of wet, mossy limestone.
The first 2,000 feet of the cave system is made up of big, airy rooms. Thick stalactites hang down like dragon teeth. Beyond this point, the cave narrows. Some sections force visitors into a crouch and then a crawl. Here, cavers are well beyond the “twilight zone,” the part of the cave where light from the outside world reaches. Without a flashlight, the darkness is complete. If you are claustrophobic, this is where you turn around.
The boys weren’t deterred by darkness and tight spaces, though.
About one mile in, they came to a junction. They knew they should turn back if they were going to make it to Night’s party. But there, deep in the cave, they fell into the allure that cavers know well: What if we go just a little farther?
They kicked off their sandals, dropped their backpacks, and kept going. They wriggled through tight spaces and tromped up and down gravelly slopes, their bare toes, toughened by years of shoeless soccer matches, gripping slippery rocks.
After a few hours, they decided to head back. But when they returned to the junction, there was only swirling water.
Coach Ek calmly told the boys the water would surely recede and they should find a place to sleep for the night. They retreated to a section of sandy ground.
Night thought about his party, about everyone waiting for him, about the delicious food his mother had been cooking all afternoon and, of course, the cake. His teammates were thinking about food too. It was useless, though, unless they wanted to eat their flashlights for dinner.
At least they had the most important thing: water.
Unlike the murky water pooled on the cave floor, the water dripping from the walls had been filtered through the rocks, cleaning it. The boys cupped their hands to catch the drops as they fell.
Then one by one, they drifted off to sleep, thinking about tomorrow, when they’d be able to get out.