A very good start. The beginning, although depressing, gets you from the first sentence and draws the reader in. The description in this is good, and this is the first time I've seen a story written in the present actually work and not sound awkward; I barely noticed it!
Although this is just the start, the characters come across well, with Rachael's sadness about the crash pretty apparent. And the ending was pretty interesting. The ring on the bush seems strange, but strange things happen in fantasy. There's a good cliffhanger that doesn't explain what exactly happened, but I bet they got pulled to another world. I look forward to finding out more. Keep it up!