I've never been as terrified of someone as I was when I realized that James Ransome was my co-worker.

I first saw him at the company party for my department. It was a company-wide event, held at a hotel. The department I worked for was for a major airline, so I think it was their 50th anniversary? There was music and a buffet and a photo booth, and my coworkers were mingling. I was sitting at a table by myself when I saw him.<br><br>I'm not sure how I knew he was bad just by looking at him, but I knew. He was a tall, imposing man in a black three-piece suit, black shirt, and black tie, with a white pocket square, and shiny black dress shoes. His black hair was slicked back and he had a black mustache, and black eyebrows that were thick and straight across his forehead. He was standing by himself at the far side of the large room, with his arms crossed over his stomach, watching everything happening around him. I asked a coworker if she knew who he was, and she told me he was a "bodyguard."<br><br>A week or so later, a new policy was put into effect where employees could not be alone with visitors from other departments. This was because there were several employees from our department who had gone out for lunch or to a meeting, and never returned. This policy meant that at least one other employee from a different department had to be present for any business meetings, and that the other employee was also required to stay in the room the whole time.<br><br>Well, one of the other policies was that employees were required to wear business attire on Fridays, and I was "blessed" with having to work alongside James Ransome every Friday. He would sit across from me, in the seat nearest to me, and would stare at me while I worked, or sit in silence. I would be on the phone and I could sense his eyes on me, as if he was listening in on my conversations.<br><br>It was terrifying to be alone with him, because I knew that he was a bad guy. I would look at him, and I could tell that he was a bad guy. I would wonder if I ever left work and he followed me home, or if he ever followed me anywhere. I always kept a notebook and pen with me, and would jot down notes to myself like "don't be alone with James", or "don't look at James, look away". I felt like I was living in a bad spy movie, where the villain is always watching.<br><br>I don't know if he ever noticed me noticing him, but I know he didn't like me. One day when I was sitting at my desk, James came over to me and sat in the empty seat next to me. He started whispering to me, and I could feel his hot breath in my ear, and his words were unintelligible, but his tone was angry. I was scared to death, so I put on Airpods, hoping that he would leave me alone. He didn't. He reached out and grabbed one of my Airpods out of my ear, and pulled me out of my chair, and stood me up. I was so scared I almost passed out. I asked him what he wanted, and he told me to take off my "stupid earbuds" because they were annoying. I told him I was on the phone, and I couldn't take them out, but he kept pulling at them. My coworker came over to me, and told James to leave me alone, and to sit back down. James said "I am the boss" and my coworker told him he was not. James stormed off, and I was shaking so hard I could barely hold my pen.<br><br>That incident alone was enough for me to decide to look up James Ransome online. I found an article about him, and it said that he was the bodyguard for a famous actor. The actor was someone that I knew of, and had seen in movies and TV shows. The article said that Ransome was known to be overprotective of his clients, and had a history of violence. He was charged with the kidnapping of a child, and served time for it. He had been the bodyguard for a famous model who had been kidnapped and killed by a kidnapper who had been stalking her for years.<br><br>I couldn't believe that this man, who was a convicted kidnapper, was allowed to walk into an airplane hangar full of innocent people. I couldn't believe that this man was allowed to be alone with women, and I couldn't believe that this man was allowed to work with our airline, because he would definitely do something to hurt someone if he ever got close enough.<br><br>I was terrified to be alone with him, and I was terrified to be anywhere near him. I would have to be on a flight with him on occasion, and he would be in a different seat, but he would sometimes get up to use the bathroom or to get a snack, and I would see him walking around, and my heart would pound in my chest.<br><br>Eventually, I was given a different seat assignment, so I didn't have to see him every Friday, and I was grateful.<br><br>Years later, I was talking to an old coworker who had moved on to a new job, and I asked her if she had ever seen James Ransome, since I had mentioned him to her before. She said she hadn't seen him at work, but she asked if I had ever checked to see if he was in prison, and I told her I hadn't. She told me to check his name on a prison inmate search website, and when I did, he was listed as an inmate in a federal prison.<br><br>I'm glad he's in prison.