An absolute value of x or -x is just simply the number ignoring the minus sign.
For example, the number -2 equals the absolute value 2. As shown in the picture below.
Definition
So the Absolute Value is the non-negative value of the number.
|x| is positive
|-x| is negative
Also, we must note the absolute value is not a positive value. Zero for example has an absolute value yet the number zero is not positive or negative.